3 ms·
Why wouldn't wolves or bears have come roaring back on the heals of a bison explosion?
by peteradio 4y ago
Why wouldn't wolves or bears have come roaring back on the heals of a bison explosion?
- ethbr0 4y agoBecause there were fewer of them to start with (predator:prey ratio is low at the apex), so it would take more generations (which are relatively slow) to appreciably increase, even under population growth-promoting conditions. Start doubling 10 vs 100, and see where you get after a few rounds.
- EdwardDiego 4y agoAh, and of course, they tend to reproduce slower,because if you reproduce too fast, you exceed the carrying capacity of your prey, and everyone starves.
- cwillu 4y agoDanger, Will Robinson! While your statement is true in the sense that we wouldn't see them if they had all previously starved, it's not true that they don't reproduce too fast _because_ they would starve if they did. Evolution doesn't have lookahead, it can't predict consequences and avoid them.
- moloch-hai 4y agoA lineage that reproduces too fast might be displaced by a slower one from elsewhere when it is weakest.
- EdwardDiego 4y agoHumans? We tend to hunt competing predators (and animals that prey on us) to near-extinction, because that's our bloody bison/sheep/cow/goat...
- moloch-hai 4y agoUnlikely. Humans were in North America for at least 10 millennia before. And never wiped out horses or camels in Asia. The comet strike is a better bet.