When apes learned to sharpen sticks, every other animal was FUUUUUUUUUCKED. Those animals should try not to be so stupid though. Dogs and cats are smart. They joined our side.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction
Going strong for over 30,000 years.
Dogs and cats are smart. They joined our side.
Dogs and cats are half the fucking problem.
Explain.
A recent study by the Smithsonian Institution and the US Fish and Wildlife Service estimated that domestic cats kill about 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion small mammals each year in the lower forty-eight states. This is far higher—and probably more accurate–than previous figures, and likely exceeds all other sources of human-related losses of these animals.
I’m not sure we are in the same conversation, brother. I said that cats benefited from befriending humanity. You seem to be posting statistics that argue in my favor.
I said that cats benefited from befriending humanity
Absolutely. And I added that they’re a primary agent by which humans propagate the Holocene Extinction.
Like, we wouldn’t be nearly as successful at killing so many small mammals and insects if we weren’t bringing domesticated cats with us all over the world.
I see what you’re saying.
We didn’t bring cats anywhere though, they came on their on volition. They do what they want. Dogs are just happy to be anywhere.
We didn’t bring cats anywhere though
:-/
A House Cat Was Brought To A Remote Island In 1894—A Year Later A Species Was Extinct
Ok but I mean, how many of those birds are pigeons and rats? That’s a service…
I would guess that none of the birds were rats. Unless you mean they talked to the cops, in which case I agree they had it coming.
Humans made dogs!
Don’t forget sharp stick! Sharp stick game changer
I give you vine to attach to end of pointy stick, make you sling pointy stick much faster.
People think we won because of our big brains or fire use, no, it’s cause we have the only halfway decent ranged ability in the game.
We broke the assumption that billions of years of evolution was built on, distance = safety.
We won the arms race, we have literal arms
I threw a pinecone at a bird that was picking at the siding. Seemed to break his brain to see something coming at him like that.
you: throws pinecone at mach 30
birb: is-is that a… squints
birb: GAH! FUCK!!!
Am I a joke to you?
Dexterity exploit speedrun.
We didn’t even need to throw a rock. There’s evidence that early man was a persistence hunter.
All other animals sprint. But man is the only animal that could jog them to death by jogging and never stopping until the animal collapses from exhaustion.
In addition to the ability to jog, run and walk during the hottest part of the day … early humans could avoid most predators who were less capable of being active in the heat. The benefits of being a hairless sweaty upright ape.
Op skin (that does need some high tech maintenance in form of clothes, and other winter logistics/planning).
Still have to kill it somehow, killing a tired animal vs killing it with exhaustion can double the time (& resources) needed.
Besides, prehistoric folk in Africa (& Europe) built stone megastructures (“V”/funnel shaped) to trap animals they herded in there.
However I imagine that prior to organised hunts like that just exhausting smaller animals was a viable option too.
I don’t think that is actually the innovation that made us own the planet.
One human throwing rocks? Meh.
15-20 humans working together, some throwing rocks, others fetching new ones, or supplying the throwers? Jup. That would do it.So, community and working together is what allowed us to win the crown.
We better not stop doing that…deleted by creator
There are lots of animals that have cooperative social groups and they don’t rule the planet.
Very few can throw weapons.
Communication, abstract planning, and being able to walk 100km without stopping is what really won it for us.
Yeah, there were studies done that found a human can’t reliably throw a rock hard enough to kill even a rabbit from pretty close range. Rocks are blunt and usually only stun the target.
It was the fact that a dozen people all throwing rocks is an unassailable obstacle to any predator or prey. You can corner animals or ward them away. And if you think about it that’s always been roughly how human wars have gone: masses of spears, slings, arrows, bolts, bullets, shells, missiles, etc. Our one big trick is a DDoS of violence.
The ability to throw a rock allowed us to make slings incredibly effective
If you look at combat between predator/prey it’s nearly always about who can attack while further away. Being able to throw rocks and pointy sticks was I think equally as important as being able to develop co-operative social groups.
And not just throw rock, also run very long distance.
Monkeys can and do throw things that are much smellier than rocks.
Trivia time: Chimpanzees are the best primates after man at throwing.
At best they can throw things at the level of semi-athletic child.
Humans have unique rotating shoulder joint that just gives us a huge edge over any other species, when it comes to throwing things.
Yes, this, it’s sapiens adaptation/specialisation, we take it for granted. Much like (related) stick use dexterity, which is another warfare advancement that should’ve gotten nerfed a few million years ago.
And I’m gonna make it a lifeless hellscape for all of us, yay!
Nonsense. We’re doing for the cockroach what Big Meteor did for the Purgatorius.
Big rock. Sharp stick. Squiggly brain.
Ug big smart hunter.
Kill him before it’s too late again
Oop, looks like I just learned to hoy this fucking rock with some woven vines over much greater distances! I am clearly your god.
