8 Killed in Houston High School Shooting

[Unbeliever]

I think coyotes are very cute!

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I think coyotes are very cute!

They're an invasive species. You cat disappears, maybe coyote. Your dog pregnant, maybe coyote. Wetlands in Yellowstone disappear, definitely coyotes. They killed beavers that dammed creeks and made habitat for water fowl, fish, and aquatic animals. Taking the wolves away allowed the coyotes to breed out of control.

[SGOS]

Wetlands in Yellowstone disappear, definitely coyotes. They killed beavers that dammed creeks and made habitat for water fowl, fish, and aquatic animals. Taking the wolves away allowed the coyotes to breed out of control.

Man is really bad at this plant and animal control thing.   He's been importing pests and eradicating helpful predators for 200 years, and if there is one thing he should have learned by now, is that he totally sucks at balancing nature.  He busts his ass to create the perfect environment, when what he really needs to do is learn how to sit back and leave things alone.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Man is really bad at this plant and animal control thing.   He's been importing pests and eradicating helpful predators for 200 years, and if there is one thing he should have learned by now, is that he totally sucks at balancing nature.  He busts his ass to create the perfect environment, when what he really needs to do is learn how to sit back and leave things alone.

The really stupid thing about the Yellowstone wolf extermination was that they thought it would make for better trophy bucks. Instead the animals overbred and the herds overgrazed, causing stunted deer and elk. And they weren't observant enough to note that the wolves preferred prey without large racks of antlers, pointy things can get a wolf hurt.

There's a great book by a guy who used to hunt wolves for the bounty. As he observed them he became more and more aware of their role in nature and he converted to naturalist, one of the first to work with canis lupus.

[SGOS]

The really stupid thing about the Yellowstone wolf extermination was that they thought it would make for better trophy bucks. Instead the animals overbred and the herds overgrazed, causing stunted deer and elk.  And they weren't observant enough to note that the wolves preferred prey without large racks of antlers, pointy things can get a wolf hurt.

It's hard to make a living as a predator.  It makes no sense to select the most dangerous animals in the herd when it's time to eat.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

It's hard to make a living as a predator.  It makes no sense to select the most dangerous animals in the herd when it's time to eat.

In the completely unintended consequences category: There were no new aspens grown in Yellowstone between 1923 and 1993.

[SGOS]

Ha! Who would have guessed.  I had to look that up:

https://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/05/weekinreview/05basic.html

Aspens may be symbols of the West, but over the last half century, they’ve been disappearing from the Lamar Valley of Yellowstone National Park. The reason is not a mystery. The elk that winter there were eating the young aspen shoots before they had a chance to grow.

But over the last few years, the trees have been making a comeback. Scientists credit the wolves that were reintroduced to Yellowstone in 1995 after an absence of nearly 70 years...

...But the study found that an “ecology of fear” has helped to restore balance to the valley, protecting young aspen shoots from browsing elk for the first time in decades.

William J. Ripple, a professor in the university’s College of Forestry and an author of the study, said aspens were recovering in areas where it would be difficult for elk to escape a wolf attack.

“We think these elk need to balance the risk of being killed versus eating in their favorite places. So it’s a trade-off between food and risk in an ecology of fear,” he said.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Yeah, okay.

[Baruch]

Elk tasted a lot better than deer meat.  Just sayin'.  Moose is gamey though.

[Cavebear]

"Apes" sounds too offensive to me ... you can stuff your technical correctness.  Like political correctness, only actually correct.  Monkeys are cute, apes are not (did I say that!).

If you don't like bad news, stop watching/reading the news.  You can't change this train wreck in progress anyway.  Do you really want to just die when the plane crashes, or do you have to scream your chicken shit head off, and bother the other passengers ... who are already not having a good time.

WOW!  You really went of the rails there. 

So calling humans "monkeys" (which they are not) is sensible to you, but calling them "apes" (which we are) is somehow "offensive". 

Seriously, think about that.  You are so utterly wrong I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry about your inaccurate statement.

Well, yeah, I laugh...

[SGOS]

So calling humans "monkeys" (which they are not) is sensible to you, but calling them "apes" (which we are) is somehow "offensive". 

Seriously, think about that.  You are so utterly wrong I'm not sure whether to laugh or cry about your inaccurate statement.

He's running out of ways to be annoying, so he's making remarkably dumb comments to get under your skin.

[Cavebear]

He's running out of ways to be annoying, so he's making remarkably dumb comments to get under your skin.

He doesn't get under my skin actually.  I just love the way he keeps giving me really stupid statements to reply to.  I get bored late at night sometimes and stupid is better than nothing..

*sigh*

[SGOS]

Moose is gamey though.

That's what you get from a constant diet of submerged swamp muck.

[Cavebear]

That's what you get from a constant diet of submerged swamp muck.

Well, in case you haven't noticed, I ALWAYS reply to the rest of you before I reply to Baruch.  If any of you are active, I'm THERE.  Baruch is sort of my Crazy 8's game while I am waiting for serious posts....

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I have me on ignore, so I can't tell if you're replying to me or not.