Phenotypic Plasticity - Animal Armageddon

[Scylla]

I bought this month’s GQ because Rachel Bilson is on the cover in a bikini. Inside though I found a rather provocative article called “The Violence of the Lambs” which makes an interesting argument:

As we pressure the natural world becoming a single species monopoly on the planet we are provoking a response. The animals are changing, and coming after us.

Animal attacks are on the rise. Formerly hard to provoke or shy animals are attacking humans.

Before Steve Irwin, there had never been a recorded event of a human being being stabbed in the heart by a Stingray. Stingrays have “Have unholy control of power and accuracy” over their barbs, using them to spear “tiny tiny fish.”

We went from never before in history to twice in six weeks. James Bertakis was fishing in his boat when a Stingray jumped in, landed on his lap and stung him through his heart.

Formerly shy sea lions are attacking and killing humans for the first time. In Alaska one jumped into a boat, knocked a fisherman overboard and took him down to his death. Marine biologists will tell you that there is no such thing as a fatal dolphin attack, but off Cancun there have been two confirmed attacks with fatalities by a particularly aggressive group of dolphins. What about Jean Floch the “psychotic dolphin” of Brezellec who is described as a “mad dog” for his attacks on humans.

It’s happening on land, too. The Elephants are coming after us. This posting brings up many of the same questions:

http://future.iftf.org/2006/10/animal_attacks.html

Are the number of attacks by animals formerly thought to be relatively harmless or difficult to provoke on the rise?.. All across Africa, India and parts of Southeast Asia, from within and around whatever patches and corridors of their natural habitat remain, elephants have been striking out, destroying villages and crops, attacking and killing human beings. In fact, these attacks have become so commonplace that a new statistical category, known as Human-Elephant Conflict, or H.E.C., was created by elephant researchers in the mid-1990’s to monitor the problem."

Teams of elephant working in concert have wiped out over 44 villages in Nigeria in a single season.

Monkeys are now making spears:

For First Time, Chimps Seen Making Weapons for Hunting

…and, they are on the attack. In Mandera Kenya in 2000 monkeys and humans fought a full scale battle over the arrival of some water trucks. The monkeys wanted the water and knew how to open the stopcocks. They were organized, through rocks and displayed team behavior. Battalions of monkeys have taken over highways in India.

The first documented fatality of a human being killed by a healthy wolf occured in 2005. In Albania a troop of 200 dogs came out of the mountains and took over a town. A troop of jaguars, formerly lone hunters,displayed pack behavior, and attacked a town in broad daylight.

In Africa and India Monkeys are charging towns, carrying off children and babies and eating them.

The birds are acting differently, too. I’m not going to go into details, but if you’ve seen the Alfred Hitchcock flick, that’s it.

Snakes, alligators, deer, even Moose hanging out at Universitys waiting to stomp unwitting coeds. Dog attacks so severe and frequent in China that Chines officials are wiping out all canine pets in entire regions!

Phenotypic plasticity. What it simply means is that animals will rapidly change and produce new behaviors in response to precipitous environmental changes, and carve out new ecological niches, new prey.

Fight the future! Kill your pets! Wipe out the animals!

It’s taken a long time for mother nature to catch on, but she finally realizes it us or them!
Which side are you on?

(To avoid the hassle, yes, I’m being somewhat facetious, as was the article, but nonetheless I think there’s an interesting debate or discussion here.)

[XT]

Well…not to throw a wet blanket on anything, but many of those animals have always been aggressive or at least dangerous. Monkeys SEEM pretty cute, but they are vicious bastards even when not provoked. Elephants are VERY dangerous and always have been. I think chimps have been tool users for a long time…it’s more than possible their use of spears is nothing new, just not something observed in the past (I seem to recall they make a multi-part stick like tool for getting ants or other ground dwelling insects as well…and have been observed using other tools as well).

Though I don’t believe animals are banding together in some kind of systematic way to attack humans, as we push them to the limits in their environments they are bound to push back at some point. It’s a shame that if they DO push back this will only lead to their more rapid extinction, as humans have pretty much systematically destroyed any top predators in any niche we chose to occupy…and any OTHER animals that are perceived as threats.

Who’s side am I on? Ultimately I suppose I’m on the side of the hominids…though secretly I wish the other species well and hope they go down swinging. I WISH we could all just get along but I think at this stage it is unlikely. If a species doesn’t live along side humans in a subservient role or isn’t useful in some other way and is in a niche humans chose to occupy…well, that species is probably doomed. I suppose the one ray of hope for some of these species on the edge is that as humans become more advanced our numbers seem to be dropping…so perhaps one day we will because sufficiently advanced that we require a hell of a lot less space and thus free up some of the niches we have taken over world wide.

-XT

[John_Mace]

@Scylla

Before Steve Irwin, there had never been a recorded event of a human being being stabbed in the heart by a Stingray. Stingrays have “Have unholy control of power and accuracy” over their barbs, using them to spear “tiny tiny fish.”

We went from never before in history to twice in six weeks. James Bertakis was fishing in his boat when a Stingray jumped in, landed on his lap and stung him through his heart.

Never happened to westerners ≠ never happened. We’re increasingly invading their space, so we should expect to see unusual behavior. That does not mean the behavior has changed.

Formerly shy sea lions are attacking and killing humans for the first time. In Alaska one jumped into a boat, knocked a fisherman overboard and took him down to his death. Marine biologists will tell you that there is no such thing as a fatal dolphin attack, but off Cancun there have been two confirmed attacks with fatalities by a particularly aggressive group of dolphins. What about Jean Floch the “psychotic dolphin” of Brezellec who is described as a “mad dog” for his attacks on humans.

Sea lions are shy? Since when? And again, we’re invading their territory at an increasing rate. Many animals become aggressive when you invade their territory. This is nothing new.

It’s happening on land, too. The Elephants are coming after us. This posting brings up many of the same questions:

http://future.iftf.org/2006/10/animal_attacks.html

In Africa, there was a problem with humans trying to establish new herds, and not realizing the animals needed to be socialized properly. But again, there is no reason to think this isn’t because of shrinking habitat in the other areas.

Monkeys are now making spears:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/22/AR2007022201007.html

Chimps are not monkeys. And all that means is that we have at last observed this behavior. It doesn’t mean that is something that only happened “now”.

You’ve taken a bunch of anecdotes and, well, I’m not really sure what you’ve done.

Phenotypic plasticity. What it simply means is that animals will rapidly change and produce new behaviors in response to precipitous environmental changes, and carve out new ecological niches, new prey.

What evidence do you have that this behavior is meant to be a means to get new prey? Considering that one of your examples was a herbivore, I have to wonder how you come to that conclusion.

[Little_Nemo]

I’d guess it’s just a result of the fact that humans have expanding into more territory that use to be wild. This increases the number of contacts between humans and wild animals and it also makes wild animals more acclimated to a human presense making them less likely to flee from human contact.

[Ale]

@Little Nemo

I’d guess it’s just a result of the fact that humans have expanding into more territory that use to be wild. This increases the number of contacts between humans and wild animals and it also makes wild animals more acclimated to a human presense making them less likely to flee from human contact.

Also clueless humans are acting dumber than usual in the precense of wild animals.
Petting, harrasing or posing by a wild animal is going to come to grief sooner or later.

[Ale]

Hit submit too soon.

As an example of stupid human behaviour let`s see feeding sharks. You gear up, jump into the water and feed killing machines for fun, lesson being tought to the squalids: humans = food.
You see where this can end up in tragedy.

[Gozu]

Animals attacking humans is news? My kitten has been trying to scratch and bite me to death for years!*

On a less facetious note, we’ve been wiping out species for a while, sometimes without even trying. Other than rats/mice, I can’t think of any mammal that is in as little danger to see its numbers reduced significantly as we are. Cats and dogs going hostile en masse could hurt us but we have a symbiotic relationship that’s too significant at this point for it to happen. The process of human selection has always been an ongoing thing; pets that aren’t friendly or docile enough are more likely to escape and die, be abandonned,neutered or killed.

We are at much greater risk from insects, bacteria and viruses which have a faster mutation rate and are harder to fight than larger creatures.

*Supposedly, if humanity were to vanish, along with cat food, Hundreds of millions of cats would start hunting and decimate all kinds of small animals (birds, rodents, lizards, etc.). They are a competent predator.

[Jackmannii]

Most alarming, even midget dog breeds are attacking and killing humans:

“According to Jeff Mozer, the baby Justin Mozer, named after his father, was sleeping in the middle of a king-size bed about 3:15 p.m. Friday when, without warning, the Jack Russell terrier attacked and killed him.”

Granted that JWs are the “assholes of the dog world” (as Mrs. J. has remarked), but what’s next? Chihuahuas hunting in packs?

[elucidator]

First he waterboards himself, then this. Scylla, anything you need to talk about? We’re here for you.

[FriarTed]

The Book of Revelation…

6:8 So I looked and here came a pale green horse! The name of the one who rode it was Death, and Hades followed right behind. They were given authority over a fourth of the earth, to kill its population with the sword, famine, and disease, and by the wild animals of the earth.

Right on time.

[Liberal]

@Scylla

Before Steve Irwin, there had never been a recorded event of a human being being stabbed in the heart by a Stingray. Stingrays have “Have unholy control of power and accuracy” over their barbs, using them to spear “tiny tiny fish.”

We went from never before in history to twice in six weeks. James Bertakis was fishing in his boat when a Stingray jumped in, landed on his lap and stung him through his heart.

Setting aside the implications of a Gambler’s Fallacy, I’m pretty sure that a stingray knows nothing about human anatomy, including where the human heart is located and whether it is a vital organ. So if the author painted a scenario of murderous stingrays targetting human hearts, I think he’s crazy. That said, I think there’s bound to be conflict when humans encroach on territory that animals formerly held to themselves. But I think that would be true whether the encroaching animal were human or horse.

[Gozu]

@elucidator

First he waterboards himself, then this. Scylla, anything you need to talk about? We’re here for you.

I’m not sure I get the joke (what’s the common element in the waterboarding thread and this one?); care to elaborate?

[lieu]

@elucidator

First he waterboards himself, then this.

Might this lend credence to his argument though? We as a nation of animals ourselves had never waterboarded before. Now we’re doing it to other humans and, apparently, even to ourselves when others aren’t available. God help us from… umm… us.

[Student_Driver]

@Scylla

I bought this month’s GQ because Rachel Bilson is on the cover in a bikini.

Yeah. Hot, isn’t she?

…

…

…oh, wait. Animals… umm. Yeah, I haven’t made it to that article yet.

(There are articles in this thing?)