ted@imsvax.UUCP (Ted Holden) (08/21/85)
Charles Forsyth's latest posting is entitled "IGNORANCE". I recommend it. The article lives up to it's title. Just one point I would like to comment on. Charles claims to have stampeded SOMETHING once, he doesn't say what exactly, probably a herd of mice. Elephants are intelligent, Charles. They are very large and powerful, they have a bad attitude generally, and nobody with any sense who lives around them messes with them if it is avoidable. Unlike true herd animals, such as deer and buffaloe, they could not easily be stampeded over a cliff; they are far more likely to attack someone attempting this. As far as this cliff theory explaining the total extermination of several breeds of elephants in North America, which was the original question, the theory, even if it wasn't BS, which it is, still could not come close. Elephants were living in too many places WITH NO CLIFFS.
padraig@utastro.UUCP (Padraig Houlahan) (08/23/85)
> Charles Forsyth's latest posting is entitled "IGNORANCE". I recommend it. > The article lives up to it's title. Just one point I would like to comment > on. Charles claims to have stampeded SOMETHING once, he doesn't say what > exactly, probably a herd of mice. Elephants are intelligent, Charles. They > are very large and powerful, they have a bad attitude generally, and nobody > with any sense who lives around them messes with them if it is avoidable. > Unlike true herd animals, such as deer and buffaloe, they could not easily > be stampeded over a cliff; they are far more likely to attack someone > attempting this. As far as this cliff theory explaining the total > extermination of several breeds of elephants in North America, which was the > original question, the theory, even if it wasn't BS, which it is, still could > not come close. Elephants were living in too many places WITH NO CLIFFS. I saw a nature program the other day where they were trying to capture some of these intelligent creatures. The hunters made a circular ditch around some favorite elephant food. The only way to the food was across a bridge made of logs. Elephants, being intelligent went across and got the food. In the meantime however the bridge was removed. The ditch was only about two feet deep but elephants won't walk where they can't touch with their trunks, and hence were trapped. The hunters could then do as they pleased, when they pleased, to these very large, powerful animals that have a bad attitude generally. I suppose this is a case of "if the elephants won't go to the cliffs, bring the cliffs to the elephants"! Padraig Houlahan.
csdf@mit-vax.UUCP (Charles Forsythe) (08/24/85)
In article <378@imsvax.UUCP> ted@imsvax.UUCP (Ted Holden) writes: >Charles Forsyth's latest posting is entitled "IGNORANCE". I recommend it. I'm glad you identified with it, Ted. >Charles claims to have stampeded SOMETHING once, he doesn't say what >exactly, probably a herd of mice. Oh ha ha ha! It was cattle, Ted. You may have seen some on TV. >Elephants are intelligent, Charles. What does that make you? Your comments on the Indians were what I was really adressing at the beginning. You haven't responded to those, Ted. Haven't enough westerns been aired on your favorite UHF station to fully answer my questions yet? When you said "the Indians considered the animals as their brothers" I laughed so hard I nearly fell out of my seat! Which Indians? There were an awful lot of them. There were even different TRIBES. (Imagine that, just like the Hebrews who were brought into existance 6000 years ago!) You are getting more humorous Ted, quote some more Velitrovsky. "Shopping malls were created because the race-memory of man expected another flood, thus they wanted to put their stores in centralized, weather-proof locations...." hahahahaha. -- Charles Forsythe CSDF@MIT-VAX "We pray to Fred for the Hopelessly Normal Have they not suffered enough?" from _The_Nth_Psalm_ in _The_Book_of_Fred_
pamp@bcsaic.UUCP (pam pincha) (08/27/85)
In article <378@imsvax.UUCP> ted@imsvax.UUCP (Ted Holden) writes: >Elephants were living in too many places WITH NO CLIFFS. The problem was that the herds were dying out at the time due to a drastic change in their environment. With a decreasing population, enviromental changes and such, Man just hastened their demise by tipping the scales more towards extinction than adaptation and survival! I repeat -- MAN DID NOT HAVE TO KILL OFF ALL THE HERDS TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE EXTINCTIONS! All he had to do was kill off enough to lower the critical mass for species survival beyond what it could rebound from with out help. Nature did the rest! ----------------------------------------------------------- P.M.Pincha-Wagener (bcsaic!pamp) (usual disclaimer) -----------------------------------------------------------