Cavepeople

Cavepeople are recurring background characters on Dinosaurs, and have occasionally figured in the main storylines. Only marginally smaller than the dinosaurs, their skin and hair, as well as a language unknown to the reptiles, causes them to be seen as inferior. Cavepeople were initially used for comic relief in early episodes, and humor is mined from their struggle to invent the wheel (the pilot) or two males in a zoo being encouraged to mate ("The Mating Dance"). However, later storylines used cavepeople as metaphors for the historical treatment of Native Americans and other indiginous peoples ("The Discovery") or for abuse of animals in zoos and circuses ("Charlene and Her Amazing Humans").