There was a book published in 1997 called Blood Rites by Barbara Ehrenreich that talked about the influence of predation on the evolution of humanity. In that book a picture was presented of a early African Savanna filled with very large, (mostly extinct) carnivores like, the giant dog, the sabretooth cat, the giant cave cat etc. Many of preying on our ancestors.

What were especialy dangerous were the number of large cats, so I guess we were rather scared of "the big bad puddy tat" in those days.

Pierre