Driving Animals to Extinction is a 10,000 Year Old Practice...but the Joke's on Us

Of course it’s frequently human fault when animals are hunted to extinction….who else’s could it be?  Animals generally don’t hunt or kill one another until they are endangered although that has been known to happen.  For instance, introducing a particularly aggressive species of fish into new territory where smaller, vulnerable fish exist can actually wipe out that population.  Mind you, it’s still us nasty humans who tend to have the honour of introducing weaker fish to predators.

To be sure, there were a number of factors that went into the extinction of the magnificent woolly mammoth. Climate change, shifting habitats, and probably a plethora of other factors plotted against the poor mammoth. However it all began with humanoids, rather than humans, about 10,000 years before homosapiens of our breed even set foot on the earth.  I blogged once about the existence of approximately 1 –  4% Neanderthal DNA  still existing in many cultures worldwide, specifically descendents of early humans who migrated out of Africa, except non-Indigenous Africans, and beginning in the Middle East (I swear I don’t make up this stuff).  watch all non-Africans are Neanderthal hybrids. ’Twould appear that many more cultures seem to have inherited their tendency to pursue animals in very large numbers to satisfy needs (and wants). watch new evidence that Neanderthals interbred humans. Buffalo were hunted nearly to extinction and in fact their remaining numbers are pitiful (hundreds) compared to their original count (millions) …(thank you, Yankees).  Mammoths it would seem, were their predecessors.  And it was those pesky Neanderthals (and maybe Cro Magnon Man) who preceded the Yanks in this type of egocentric behaviour.  watch evolution – from ape man to neanderthal

Bothersome meteors are another culprit, it would seem.  Oh, how researchers love to pull out that ace up their sleeve: first the dinosaur extinction caused by a particularly errant meteor, now the mammoth tragedy.  This one is known as the Younger Drias Impact Hypothesis. ‘Tis also suggested that the onset of warmer climates, wet tundra and coniferous forests were poorly suited for the doomed mammoth  This hypothesis states the areas most inhabited by woolly mammoths became too barren to provide their food source and naturally no animal can sustain itself on air and good intentions (unless you’re a Breatharian of course, but that’s another blog – and a hoot and a holler – entirely). However humanoids may have  played a definite factor in wiping out the hairy beasts. Human hunting, climate change and landscape changes coalesced to force the noble beast into extinction.

Never you mind. Mother Nature had a little vengeance of her own.  Cro Magnon Man gave Neanderthals a run for their mammoths and eventually they contributed (also among many factors) to the Neanderthal extinction.  I believe that’s known as karma. watch neanderthal vs Cro Magnon. Mind, it is highly doubtful that Neanderthals had the wherewithal to grasp the implications of their enthusiastic hunting sprees. Meh. Seems to me that if Neanderthals hadn’t assisted the earth’s many changes in obliterating the mammoth, modern day humans certainly would: those ivory tusks are extremely valuable to poachers.  Ask the elephants.  watch LAGA ivory operation 12 tusk

About these ads