<<The implication stared me in the face: someone else took care of
her. Alone, unable to move, delirious, in pain, 1808 wouldn't have
lasted two days in the African bush, much less the length of time her
skeleton told us she had lived.>>
This implication isn't staring at me for some reason. How do the authors know
this creature was "alone"? Why couldn't she be part of the group sitting there
by their water source, fighting off predators while she painfully sipped
water?
<< Someone else, I couldn't help thinking, sat with her through the long, dark
African nights for no good reason except human concern.>>
Who wrote this? Alan Alda?
There are just too many assumptions here to speculate about supposed human
behavior.
Jim