From: Greg Jordan (jordan@chuma.cas.usf.edu)
Date: Fri May 02 2003 - 08:42:33 MDT
On Thu, 1 May 2003, Lee Daniel Crocker wrote:
> Actually, that seems quite reasonable. Many mammals have
> alpha males with harems, while most males don't breed at all.
> When an alpha male dies, another male takes his place. But
> animals wouldn't /know/ they were sterilized, and so if you
> happened to sterilize an alpha male, you wouldn't reduce the
> breeding rate, you'd eliminate it entirely. I can imagine
> that other social systems might also be upset by sterilization.
> Predation, on the other hand, is something prey animals have
> evolved to deal with sensibly.
Yes, sterilization is so effective it has to be done very carefully to
avoid eliminating the population entirely. Not all herds have only one
breeding male. And there is of course usually more than one herd. I am not
an expert, but I think sterilization mainly focuses on females. They are
the real hinge point for reproductive numbers. I don't know what other
animal social systems might be affected by sterilization. Hunting results
in the loss of often random herd members - with obvious effects on the
animal social life. Human predation is also not the same as predation by
the natural predators.
> Not to mention that being shot by a human hunter is much
> less "violent" than natural predation.
If the hunter is a good shot, and is trying to shoot right, and
has a good opportunity. None of which is universally the case, obviously.
gej
resourcesoftheworld.org
jordan@chuma.cas.usf.edu
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