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submitted 2 years ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/news@lemmy.world
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[-] Wahots@pawb.social 213 points 2 years ago

This is literally why we have apex predators such as wolves. They help clamp down on the old and the sick so that prions (mad cow disease) does not spread to other species or humans. It cannot infect wolves.

When you kill off all the apex predators, like when Montana governor Greg Gianforte authorized the massacre of 100 wolves, you see explosions of extremely dangerous diseases and land degradation as deer damage tree roots, gardens, meadows, streams, and farms.

Not only that, but killing members of wolf packs causes their families to fall apart and everyone to scatter. That means wolves alone. Which cannot hunt pack animals which require coordination. So then they go after the easiest meal: dumbass farm animals who have zero survival instincts and whose ranchers no longer employ people to look after the herds in great enough numbers like the olden days. The cycle then perpetuates, as mad-cow contaminated soils spread and spread....

[-] ridethisbike@lemmy.world 84 points 2 years ago

Damn.... It's almost like we should leave mother nature the fuck alone

[-] rosymind@leminal.space 8 points 2 years ago

The more we learn, the better it will be for all species. We'll figure it out eventually... or die out

[-] SendMePhotos@lemmy.world 12 points 2 years ago

Die out. Look at the weather patterns. We done fucked up.

[-] rosymind@leminal.space 7 points 2 years ago

Could be! I've spent the last 3 or so years with little to do but think, read, argue and watch youtube. I tend to watch mostly educational content, ranging from the big ones ("nile red", "veritasium", nutshell I can't spell, "world science festival") to lesser known ones ("sci-show", "fall of civilizations", "economics explained", "donna" and a bunch of others). Robert Sapolsky is amazing, btw, look him up if you don't already know who he is. But anyway, most recently I learned about the last 5 mass extinctions in a video by "paleo analysis"

Anyway...

I think many people will die in the upcoming climate crisis (and are already dying) but I don't think humanity itself will completely die out. I mean, we are not the pinnacle of evolution that some people would like to think, and we're still changing and likely will continue to do so as our environment changes. But die out completely? Prrrrrobably not. As a species we're highly adaptive (even though some idiots in power hold us back) and I think that at least enough of us will survive to continue the species.

Maybe not, but I think we have a shot that's no more unlikely than anything else that's happened so far

[-] SendMePhotos@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

I think you're right. Having assets spread across different investments protects one from going bankrupt. Having our species spread across the different climates means that we may still survive but probably not most of us.

[-] rosymind@leminal.space 2 points 2 years ago

Bingo! Unless the planet suddenly explodes, we'll probably survive whatever else is thrown at us

[-] SendMePhotos@lemmy.world 4 points 2 years ago

I just hope that the species can progress instead of regress. I feel like we've had severe regression in the last 25-35 years.

[-] rosymind@leminal.space 1 points 2 years ago

I totally get what you mean. I'm hopeful, tho. Pressures force growth and adaptation. I think we're still in the complacent zone. I'm interested to see what happens next

[-] force@lemmy.world 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I wouldn't call economics explained or sci-show "lesser-known", they're some of the most popular "educational" youtubers out there now... (although a lot of the times i would find it more accurate to call economics explained videos opinion pieces based on faulty claims/sources rather than educational videos)

[-] rosymind@leminal.space 1 points 2 years ago

Which would you recommend? I don't mind dry, but I have issues with accents. I like Anton Petrov's videos but I find it difficult to understand him (as an example)

[-] doppelgangmember@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Eh, beg to differ. It's our industrialist society imo.

Native Americans were shown to actually improve the ecosystems they inhabited through permaculture. We're not doing the same practices like we should nowadays.

[-] otterpop@lemmy.world 30 points 2 years ago

Can't infect wolves? I'm no expert here but I don't feel like a vertebrate mammal with a brain could be completely immune to prions. Do you have any more information on that claim?

[-] Wahots@pawb.social 51 points 2 years ago

It's in the OP article. They haven't found any infections yet, and it doesn't appear to affect them. Apex predators have, prior to human intervention, always hunted the old, the young, and the sick. Mother nature appears to have found a way around apex predators all dying from disease to balance the environment.

[-] douglasg14b@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Afaik it's because they naturally die before the disease becomes crippling. Or it becomes crippling around or after the normal lifespan of the animal. It doesn't mean they aren't affected, it means it doesn't affect them before they would normally die...

Please don't anthropomorphize "mother nature". Mother nature doesn't think, or make decisions, it is a natural progression of life and death... There is a process and a cycle to much of it, hand waving "mother nature finds a way" ignores and dismisses the reality of it, and excludes the science that helps us understand how our world actually works.

[-] evranch@lemmy.ca 11 points 2 years ago

I believe canines were found to be resistant to prion diseases, as they evolved to eat all manner of sick, dying and dead animals. Likely something to do with digestion, gut barrier or blood-brain barrier. Canines are pretty unique in their ability to eat almost anything that was once alive without getting sick.

CWD is a very fast acting disease compared to most prison diseases, and should easily become visible during the lifespan of a dog or wolf.

[-] Wahots@pawb.social 6 points 2 years ago

Scavengers like Hyenas and Vultures too. Vultures even have some strange adaptations to take care of their feet when feasting on scavenged carcasses. Their GI tracts are wild.

[-] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 3 points 2 years ago

And opossums

Those things are fucking indestructible

[-] douglasg14b@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago

Can't.... Infect.... Wolves?

You do know that prions aren't living things right? They don't "infect", they are a physical change to a compound (protein) that spreads to other similar compounds it touches. It's not a virus, or a bacteria.

Unless wolves lack the same proteins that deer also have? Usually this is a mammal thing, not a species thing.

[-] afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world 6 points 2 years ago

I think the meaning of the word in context was clear enough.

[-] Everythingispenguins@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

So far CWD is a disease that only affects members of the deer family. So wolves are not going to get it in its current form

[-] guacupado@lemmy.world 1 points 2 years ago

Yeah! Fuck deer!

this post was submitted on 22 Dec 2023
431 points (98.4% liked)

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