4 ms·
Do people seriously believe ancient humans hunted mammoths? I thought it's just a popular myth (some people even believe they rode dinosaurs, you know). Weren't
by qwerty456127 7y ago
Do people seriously believe ancient humans hunted mammoths? I thought it's just a popular myth (some people even believe they rode dinosaurs, you know). Weren't there other animals handier to hunt?
- grawprog 7y agoYa, but a single mammoth could provide exponentially more meat for the same efforts of hunting multiple smaller animals.
- red75prime 7y agoOne mammoth - 2 boars, three mammoths - 8 boars, ten mammoths - 1024 boars? That's what exponential means. Sorry, I couldn't help myself.
- shawabawa3 7y agoHe said exponential returns on effort. i.e. Hunting a rabbit = 1 unit of effort and 1 unit of meat A boar = 4 units of effort and 16 units of meat A mammoth = 8 units of effort and 256 units of meat So it actually kind of makes sense here
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- grawprog 7y agoFair point to the poster above. The ratios may not be entirely exponential but yes, your analogy is the point I was trying to make.
- red75prime 7y agoThen can we expect that if blue whale hunt requires 800 units of effort, we can feed entire observable universe with its meat? I understand what was said, I just don't like when people use "exponential" as a synonym for "huge". There's nothing inherently exponential in meat to effort ratio.
- BurningFrog 7y agoWe even hunted them to extinction, many thousands of years ago. I believe hunting big mammals is where we had a comparative advantage over other predators, so we did well on that.
- catalogia 7y agoPerhaps this only seems inconceivable to you because you've never tasted succulent mammoth meat. Maybe they tasted great. Either way, I wager successfully taking down a mammoth was an exceedingly rewarding experience in numerous ways.