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All downhill from there (media.piefed.social)
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[-] AeonFelis@lemmy.world 52 points 2 days ago

Persistence predation is the only way I can manage to take my cats to the vet.

[-] Alcoholicorn@mander.xyz 8 points 2 days ago

Did you try just picking them up and having a towel or blanket underneath in case they want to dig their claws into something, and hand in their shoulders in case they try to escape? That's what Ive done for years and it is so much less stressful on everyone involved.

[-] AeonFelis@lemmy.world 12 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

The problem is getting a hold of them in the first place. They just bolt from one hiding place to another, and I say "hiding place" but they're not as much "hidden" as "hard to reach when you are a human-sized human". The only reason I eventually manage to catch them is that ambush predators get tired quicker than persistence predators.

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[-] curiousaur@reddthat.com 68 points 2 days ago

I was playing tag with my kid yesterday. He's 3, almost 4. He's very fast for his age, but not as fast as me. He asked to play tag because he just learned it in school. I could dodge to the side as he was getting close and change direction. I could fake him out. I could sprint to the other side of our 1 acre meadow to creat space. But he just kept coming. Smiling and laughing the whole time. I'm starting to get winded. Hands on my knees for a second after a sprint, but only for a second as he's closed the gap already. His undeterred motivation and pace was scary. He was going to get me eventually, and he seemed to know it.

I now know how the victims of Chucky must have felt.

[-] WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works 191 points 3 days ago

Imagine being hunted and killed by a team of power walkers.

[-] Zwiebel@feddit.org 182 points 3 days ago
[-] WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works 156 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

You know, this is actually the type of fear that the zombie horror genre really reverses back on us. Classic zombies are not fast. They're not smart. They can't run, climb, or plan elaborate traps. They have no sharp claws or terrifyingly large teeth. You can outrun them at a brisk walk.

But what makes them so dangerous is that they're relentless. If they get your scent, they'll follow you and keep following you. Blow their legs off and they'll crawl towards you. Remove all their limbs and they'll slither like a snake towards you. Only destroying their brain can stop them.

If you're on foot, it is virtually impossible to escape them, as they'll just keep on coming. And while you need to sleep, they don't. They can just keep right on shuffling towards you 24/7. If on foot being chased by a zombie, your best bet is probably to find a river you can swim across that will sweep them away. Oh, and of course, they are rarely alone.

Zombies are predators that turn our species's natural hunting strategy back upon us.

[-] yngmnwntr@lemmy.ml 41 points 3 days ago

Similarly the Terminator is ceaseless but does run, jump, climb etc. Our own hunting strategy, but perfected by machines. Even more tireless and persistent.

[-] Korhaka@sopuli.xyz 8 points 2 days ago

I thought it was the swarm that was what is so dangerous rather than being relentless. A single zombie is usually shown as weak and pretty easy to kill.

[-] wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 3 days ago

Not really related, but it makes me sad that this isn't easily possible in Project Zomboid. It's the exact sort of feeling I want from it.

[-] otacon239@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

I’m kind of surprised considering there’s a massive mod scene. Not even with a custom difficulty mode?

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[-] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 25 points 2 days ago

Fun fact: the guy who first proposed this "running man" hypothesis about persistence hunting in the late 1960s (Grover Krantz) was better known as a staunch advocate for the existence of Bigfoot. Personally, I can't believe that anybody could still believe in Bigfoot - it's so obviously just a Yeti in a gorilla suit.

For some weird reason, Krantz's skeleton and that of his favorite dog are on display at the Smithsonian.

[-] jnod4@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 days ago

The father of modern day physics changed course and started studying alchemy, chronology, biblical interpretation, losing himself to mysticism. He'd probably research big foot if he was alive as well. That doesn't mean I'm going to dismiss his real magnum opus

[-] squaresinger@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Contrary to modern-day physics, the "persistence hunting" thing is very much not a scientific consensus. It's more of a fringe idea supported by hardly any science that somehow made it into popular science.

There's about as much credible evidence to that theory as there is to the theory that eating chocolate helps with losing weight.

[-] ChickenLadyLovesLife@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

Wikipedia politely labels persistence hunting as "conjecture". It's interesting that pretty much everything important from our ancestral past (e.g. fire-making, flint-napping tools, spears, skins and furs etc.) can be and regularly is reproduced by modern people. But somehow you never see modern people jogging down deer and killing them - even with the benefits of modern footwear, portable water containers, a carbohydrate-rich diet for energy, and GPS trackers.

somehow made it into popular science

The "somehow" as far as I can tell is the David Attenborough documentary bit that supposedly shows a Khoi-San hunter doing it. Richard Lee and a team of Harvard anthropologists extensively studied the !Kung (a Khoi-San people) during the '60s and '70s and there was never a mention in any of the literature this produced about these people engaging in persistence hunting. What they did describe was the practice of hunting with poisoned spears and arrows and then tracking the wounded, poisoned animal for days until it dropped and could be butchered. Needless to say, this is not persistence hunting.

The popular anthropologist Marvin Harris also featured Krantz' work is his final book Our Kind (which is where I first heard of it), but I don't think enough people read that book for it to have been the source of the idea's current popularity.

[-] MrPoopyButthole@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

Thank you chicken lady. That makes much more sense.

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[-] LilB0kChoy@midwest.social 139 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Pursuit predation/persistence hunting has to be one of the most metal characteristics about humans.

[-] saimen@feddit.org 80 points 3 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

https://ourworldindata.org/quaternary-megafauna-extinction

The timing of megafauna extinctions was not consistent across the world; instead, the timing of their demise coincided closely with the arrival of humans on each continent.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[-] LilB0kChoy@midwest.social 31 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

You're missing a \.

There have been many extinction events in Earth’s history. There have been five big mass extinction events and several smaller ones.

There have now been many studies focused on the question of whether humans were a key driver of the QME. Many suggest that the answer is yes. Climatic changes might have driven an initial decline in large mammal populations — small population crashes — but human pressures are likely to have thwarted their recovery. Large mammals survived previous periods of climatic change, but the arrival of humans put pressure on already-depleted populations.

[-] MisterFrog@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago

\ is the escape character in markdown. Gotta do a double \ and then another \ for the underscore

 ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯ =

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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[-] BlushedPotatoPlayers@sopuli.xyz 17 points 2 days ago

What I never got about this theory is, fine, you run after the Ptadgedrwgydon for 87kms, when it gives up due to exhaustion and you kill it with a stone. What now? You're 87kms away with a carcass that weighs 500kg, how do you get back the food to the tribe?

[-] Agent641@lemmy.world 21 points 2 days ago

This is how we learned to be nomads. Kill big thing, bring camp to big thing, hang out until big thing is all eaten.

[-] SomeKindaName@lemmy.world 21 points 2 days ago

The tribe can walk.

[-] nanoswarm9k@lemmus.org 8 points 2 days ago

Group hunting for mega-fauna. Partial field-processing of remains, beyond a dressing.

idk, moose hunters might still. Is there a moose hunter at the forum today..?

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[-] squaresinger@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago

That's probably part of the reason why the evidence of persistence hunting being used as an actual hunting technique, compared to ambush hunting or trapping is incredibly slim. And that's the reason why there's really no scientific consensus that persistence hunting was a major thing at all.

[-] paperazzi@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago

This is how Komodo Dragons hunt, too.

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[-] leftzero@lemmynsfw.com 35 points 3 days ago

Also our accuracy and reach when throwing stuff.

Especially when combined with our ability to make stuff sharp by banging it against other stuff and breaking it just the right way.

[-] Nikls94@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago

And THEN add to that that once you got hit with the spear and are running slower, a wolf just appears and starts hunting you too.

Imagine being hunted by 2 different apex predators working together

[-] WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works 7 points 2 days ago

Then later in history....

An hawk flies down and attacks you, joining the wolves and the humans. They've got the fucks birds in on it now! God is dead.

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[-] Geodad@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago

That would be a terrifying way to die.

Wasn't that the premise of the Slenderman video game?

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[-] Agent641@lemmy.world 44 points 2 days ago

We are the snail

[-] Lucky_777@lemmy.world 107 points 3 days ago

Humans' ability to sweat is something outstanding.

[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.dbzer0.com 62 points 3 days ago

That what I keep saying, but people still seem thoroughly unimpressed by my ability to sweat profusely the moment I get a little hot!

[-] Agent641@lemmy.world 35 points 2 days ago

Interviewer: What would you say is your biggest strength?

Me:

[-] Donkter@lemmy.world 24 points 3 days ago

Sweating is such a powerful ability for humans when compared to the animal kingdom. I mean, not only does my sweat keep me cool, I can clear out an entire room with it if it's a little too hot!

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[-] khannie@lemmy.world 32 points 3 days ago

The other advantage we have while running is that we're not constantly slamming our intestines into our other vital organs and lungs because we're upright.

Humans can out-distance a horse. A fucking HORSE. Incredible animal the oul' human.

[-] FelixCress@lemmy.world 34 points 3 days ago

Humans can out-distance a horse

Speak for yourself, I cannot out distance a hamster lately.

[-] khannie@lemmy.world 18 points 3 days ago

Oh I am most definitely not speaking for myself. Neigh. Not one bit.

I think that's mostly down to our comparatively sedentary lifestyle though. Skinny AF, fit because I've had to run down a horse once a week and mid-20's me could hopefully out-distance a horse. A small cow anyway.

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[-] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 23 points 2 days ago

isnt this a diprotodon, which is the largest marsupial in australia, in the vombatiforms.

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[-] meme_historian@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 2 days ago

Inside you there are two snails...

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this post was submitted on 07 Jul 2025
993 points (99.0% liked)

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