come to think of it, cheetas weren't around at the time of Australopithecus
either. In fact i think most big cats only developed during the last two
million years, the only other big cat who might have just been around near
the end of 'Lucy's' period was saber tooth tiger (smilodon). All the others
had to deal with homo habilis, well capable of defending himself with spears
and tools. Add to that that the later varieties of Australopithecus probably
had some primitive tools already. I think early Australopithecus had to deal
with far fewer predators. I'm going to look it up, but i'm almost sure that
the big cats didn't develop, until the homonids were well on their way.
J de Lyser.
Brussels