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An article in the LA Times discusses a publication in the journal Science (abstract) on why humans as predators have a much greater ecological impact than other predators.
From the LA Times article, it is because:
... humans have a very different, and problematic, hunting strategy from nature's other successful hunters. Humans tend to pick out adults rather than younger, smaller, weaker members of a species.
The article goes on to use an analogy:
Think of it from a business perspective, the researchers said. An adult female, for example, is like your capital; the young that she produces are the interest generated by that capital. If you kill an adult animal today, it will take years for another to grow up and take her place. But if you kill a young animal, it will (theoretically) take only until the next breeding season to produce another. In other words, it's better to use the up [sic] interest rather than to draw down the capital, because the capital is much more difficult to build back. Once it's gone, it's gone -- and so is the interest.
This has several consequences, including for the evolution of the prey species. For example, killing the biggest or strongest animals (as might be done with trophy hunting) potentially leads to smaller or weaker future generations.
Original Submission
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 21 2015, @01:04PM
Humans ain't so good with homeostasis are grokking the implications of exponential growth. At least not the ones around me.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 21 2015, @01:20PM
Since humans killed most of the top level predators for deer (here = Northeast USA), we are now overwhelmed with nuisance suburban deer. Not to say that I want mountain lions landing on me when walking in the woods, but it would be nice if there was a better solution. Maybe getting wild venison on more restaurant menus?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by OwMyBrain on Friday August 21 2015, @01:40PM
I would love for that to happen, but here in Georgia it is illegal to sell venison meat that isn't farm raised. To get wild deer meat, you basically have to know a hunter or processor that is willing to give it away. Sadly, I don't run in circles of hunters (there don't seem to be very many of them in the tech field), but I love venison.
Of course, I wouldn't want people just shooting deer in the suburbs either. Especially when it's not uncommon to see them right outside my neighborhood. Maybe there's a loophole whereby you could catch deer that are being a nuisance, take them to a farm for a few days, and then sell your "farm raised" deer. That may still not be very economical.
(Score: 3, Informative) by tibman on Friday August 21 2015, @02:22PM
Bow hunting around the burbs should be plenty safe. Though i doubt the people that live there would be comfortable with it.
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(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday August 21 2015, @11:56PM
Brilliant idea. NOT. [google.com]
Cecil the lion: Shot with an arrow; tracked for 40 hours; finished off with a gun.
You consume too much of Hollywood's nonsense.
-- gewg_
(Score: 2) by t-3 on Saturday August 22 2015, @02:30AM
lion != deer
(Score: 2) by tibman on Saturday August 22 2015, @03:05AM
You should have seen enough posts from me to know i do actually understand human violence. So please stow your projected stereotype. Anyways, i don't want to be put into a position where i am defending sport hunting. Because i do not care for it. An arrow can kill or wound just like a gun. The whole point of me pointing out bow hunting is that it is extremely quiet and has a very short range. If you wanted to hunt in a populated area you would use a bow, not a rifle/pistol.
In the future, i would appreciate it if you would argue with me and not reach for the insults right away. At least wait until it gets heated : )
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(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday August 22 2015, @01:47PM
You're not kidding. There is very little about the natural world that city people are actually comfortable with, beyond the mere idea of "nature=good." A couple years ago there was a freakout in Brooklyn about reports that racoons had come into the area. "OMG!!! They could have rabies!!! Think of the children OH NOESSS." So the city ran around exterminating them. Pity. Racoons might have helped keep the huge population of rats in check a bit.
Another anecdote: A couple months ago there was a mulberry tree heavy with fruit next to one of the playground in Prospect Park. My kids were going to town, picking the berries by the handful and stuffing them in their faces. (I teach them basic foraging because I grew up in the Rockies and that's how my grandfather taught me). Then a nosy Park Slope mother came up to me with her tween girls and very seriously, very firmly asserted I must stop them because the berries could be poisonous.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Friday August 21 2015, @07:16PM
In NJ some 20-30 thousand plus deer are estimated killed by motor vehicles every year, plus there are around 50,000 legally killed by hunters. Yet in any suburban area with woods nearby you still constantly see them. Years ago some friends and I drove into Jockey Hollow State Park at night, the place was filled with tiny deer and other than grass, there was not a leaf in sight less than four feet above the ground. They did pass a law where you can legally keep deer you hit with your car if you report it, so I suppose that is one loophole, but you better have a sturdy vehicle!
(Score: 2) by deimtee on Saturday August 22 2015, @03:22AM
I have an awesome idea for a business in NJ. Rent out front-reinforced deer-smacking 4x4s for off-season venison collection.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 22 2015, @07:05PM
I thought about something like that, but if you are following legal procedures you are reporting each deer you "accidentally" hit and at some point frequent accidents with deer are going to be noticed, either by the police, the Fish & Wildlife people or worse, the insurance companies. On the other hand, if you can do it without reporting it or without being noticed, then you have lots of cheap venison!
(Score: 2) by Phoenix666 on Saturday August 22 2015, @01:30PM
In the West we used to offer to pay for additional tags for the hunters we knew through our church. They liked to hunt and didn't care that they didn't keep the additional kills.
Washington DC delenda est.