#persistence hunting

[beowulf22121]

Figured I'd bring this back.

[help-help-i-need-an-adult]

I’m glad my friends included me in their theoretical hunter/gatherer society

But the fact that they thought about it for 0 seconds before deciding I’m the hunter is both baffling and flattering

“I’d be such a good gatherer. And you’d be kick ass at making textiles.”

“(Insert other friends name) would just sorta float around and do what we needed help that day”

“Mmm-hmmm”

“You know what (insert my name) would be AMAZING at?”

“Hunting?”

“FUCKING HUNTING. Persistence predator extraordinaire, that one.”

*me sitting in the corner like L from death note eating the bowl of ramen they made me*

Me: what?

[digitalbusker]

Two exhausted, foam flecked wildebeests flop down in the shade of a tree.

"Okay, this time we lost them for sure."

"That's what you said last time."

"Yeah, but this time I'm right. Let's just relax a bit. I'll keep an eye out if you want to get some shut eye."

"Thanks." The wildebeest lays its head on the cool grass, but jerks back up immediately.

"What?"

"Shh! I think I hear something!"

At first they listen in vain, but slowly a sound becomes perceptible over the background noise.

"🎶 doot doot doot doo-doo doo-doo doot doot doot 🎶"

"DAMNIT PERCY!"

"Oh no, no, no no no no NO!" Shaking his head in denial, the formerly confident wildebeest struggles to his feet as his partner does the same.

"'We've lost them for sure this time!' you said!"

"no no no no no no no no please no I can't keep doing this..."

"Percy? Percy snap out of it. We've got to run again. Just a little while longer, okay?"

"...okay."

The exhausted beasts stagger back into the harsh sunlight and shamble into what could charitably be called a run.

Meanwhile the distant sound, still soft but getting louder: "🎶 but I WOULD WALK FIVE HUN DRED MI-LES and ah-I WOULD WALK FIVE HUN DRED MORE.... 🎶"

[dalniente]

god that post made me mad. "humans just CAN'T be persistence hunters, because persistence hunting doesn't make any sense to me personally! no i'm not going to cite any sources, just trust me, i read about it in school!"

okay, mmhm, sure...except it does work. it does work, and we know it does because it was still in practice by modern humans in the central Kalahari until AT LEAST 1990. some of those people have even explained some of the challenges and nuances of the practice as well as the knowledge they use to make it easier. it's not the only method of hunting humans have used over the years, but it is definitely one of the methods in our repertoire.

"humans can't run for multiple days without food and water (which is how i assume persistence hunting works, for some reason)! and they're not fast enough to chase an antelope without losing it! and tracking is a stupid concept that doesn't work, and i'm going to scoff and ignore it!"

you don't have to run for days. you don't have to be super fast. you just have to be fast enough to not let your quarry rest long enough to recover, and you do have to be able to track-- which is absolutely a real thing that people can and do learn how to do.

(i suspect the OP ignored tracking as a possibility for the same reason they tried to discredit any information about the indigenous peoples of the Kalahari as basically being (1) all noble savage bullshit from the 60s or (2) irrelevant because it's not what their forefathers were doing-- their anthropology course probably taught them about the challenges these bands are facing with colonialism, and probably also taught about the rampant misinformation about them, but it did not teach any actual respect for their cultures or knowledge. or for them as, you know, people. whose grandparents remember the way their grandparents hunted, and can talk about it, even if they are no longer able to continue the practice.)

(knowing the noble savage stereotype is bad doesn't make it less racist when you still talk about people from a stance of "but my modern ways are better than their hungry primitive ways and i'm going to talk as if they're already extinct and have no expertise worth discussing.")

"there's no POINT to it! we have tools! and weapons!" the point is not getting gored and kicked to death by a wounded animal four times your size that didn't die when you hit it the first time. the point is that an exhausted kill is an easy kill where you don't die. it's a decent point. it's fucking reasonable. also, afaik there's decent odds we learned hunting before we learned tools.

and yeah, i get that the OP was just upset and yelling in the initial post. i do understand that. and I understand their frustration at hearing a theory misrepresented as fact. but their subsequent reblogs and responses are equally thoughtless pseudointellectual posturing, and i'm sorry, it's garbage. someone pointed out modern pursuit hunters exist, and they basically went "mmmmyeah, all of that is just outdated, cherry-picked misinformation and you're very stupid and i'm very smart, look at me i know lots of tribe names and i'm going to link some articles about why these people no longer matter, isn't that sad and TOTALLY relevant to this conversation." someone else mentioned tracking, and they ONCE AGAIN basically said if you lose your line of sight, that's it, you're done, you've lost your quarry. tracking isn't real, don't even bring it up. hoofprints in wet ground in the rainy season? those are fake. doesn't happen. broken brush where a panicking animal has run? lol, that's not real. you can invent tools, but learning to follow an animal? bullshit. total malarkey. it's all just guesswork. you can GUESS where the antelope went but that's the best you can do.

🙄

anyway, i don't know enough about human evolution to guess why we're shaped the way we are, and i'm not going to speculate on it today. but what i DO know is that i am willing to believe the G/wi and the !Xo when they say, hey, if you drink a lot of water and then chase a large ungulate through the hottest part of the day in the fucking Kalahari at a steady jog, it will probably overheat and collapse before you will. because one, i kinda figure they know what they're talking about, and two, it does actually make sense when you stop and think for thirty fucking seconds. sure, you need to be physically conditioned to run distances in extreme heat, and you need to be able to find your quarry again if you lose sight of it. but conditioning and tracking are both things you can learn, no matter how badly certain clowns wish it wasn't because it doesn't support their bias. 🙃

[strawbrymuriel]

Predatory

The Galactic Alliance had really outdone themselves this time. Inviting humans to join the alliance? What were they thinking? Humans were fine-bones, pathetic creatures with no natural defenses. They were like pets.

Many of the species in the alliance had turned up their muzzles and scoffed. What good would humans be? They were so far behind in technological defenses, and all of their medicines only served their species, not any others.

When the human representative (”Uh, I’m Skip. They/them.”) arrived at the table and scurried up one of the tall chairs awkwardly, though surprisingly athletic, and sat at the table, many members of the alliance bared their teeth.

Skip cringed a little bit, but did not whimper and cower like how many presumed. Instead, they sat up straighter and their gaze darkened slightly. Hm. How curious. 

As per tradition, Skip was asked questions about their species. The human answered them with grace, admitting their flaws just as prideful as they admitted the good parts to their race. 

Finally, the head of the table, Okl’ad, opened xer mouth to ask a question. “What predators does your species battle on Earth? What experience do you have in the art of surviving?”

Skip tilted their head slowly, baring their teeth in what the humans called a smile. Many alliance members fought against shivering. “What predators?”

Okl’ad blinked. “You do not mean to say your species has no predators?”

“Oh, we did,” Skip nodded, still with their slightly widened eyes and their creepy twisted grin. Okl’ad shrunk back against xer chair. “In the past. We hunted most of them to extinction with a method we call persistence hunting.”

Whatever persistence hunting was, the alliance did not want to encounter it for themselves. 

______________________________________________________________

When the rebels attacked the Galactic Alliance’s mother ship, no one was prepared. The mother ship was left in ruins, the members on it dead. The secondary leaders had been attacked also, although they were much more prepared after having watched the mother ship get decimated.

The humans had been locked away in the bunker, knowledge of their sad bodies keeping them locked away. It was a good thing, the other species had thought, especially after the rebels had torn through them and left every single one of them inured and unable to fly the ship.

The rebels themselves had been injured in the skirmish. They left the ship safe, assuming that it would not matter if it was a destroyed or kept in one piece. The pilots could not fly, so therefore they would all die.

They had not counted for the humans.

Skip had found a way to leave the bunker, unlocking it and allowing the other humans to leave. There about five of them, just like there was on every ship. They ran down the halls, the doctors and medics dragging their alien friends to the hospital wing.

Skip had sat in the corner of the hospital, eyes cold and calculating as they flicked between the injured party. They sucked in a breath, sitting up straight and walked away. One of their human friends chased after them, stumbling and muttering curses on the way.

Skip went straight for the the pilots station, where they knew they could fly the ship. Their friend, Hari, stood next to them, his buzzing nervous energy resembling the wings of a hummingbird.

“Skip, what are you going to do?” he asked, wringing his hands together. Skip let a nasty smile rise to their face, their eyes focused entirely in front of them. Hari cocked his head curiously at the expression.

“What we do best,” Skip spat. “Persistence hunting.”

________________________________________________________________

Hari and Skip alternated between piloting and sleeping while the other humans tended to the injured. When the usual pilot (a lovely alien named Uyatd) was well enough to sit up, he was sat in the corner of the room, watching the two humans warily.

“We cannot catch up to the rebels, at this rate,” ve said, his eyes narrowed with uncertainty. Skip looked over their shoulder to look at ver, eyebrows shooting upwards. “We are going on a wild goose chase.”

“They are going to run out of fuel eventually.”

“So are we.”

“There is a planet close-by on the alliance’s side we can re-fuel at,” Skip informed, pointing to the hologram map on the wall. Uyatd blinked in surprise. “There are no rebel planets anywhere near here.”

Uyatd realized that ve was witnessing the very thing humans prided themselves on so many years ago. The persistence hunting and the packs they lived in. Many species had not understood the purpose of human pack bonding, but...

Watching Hari and Skip work together was mesmerizing. The way they spoke to each other without words as if in a hive mind. The way they knew where to go and analyzed their allies.

Uyatd stopped worrying about catching the rebels.

________________________________________________________________

True to Skip’s word, the rebel shipped guttered and eventually stopped moving entirely. Skip and Hari shared feral grins, slowly rolling up towards the other ship. Uyatd watched warily, ver gills turning a nervous green colour.

“Don’t worry,” Skip offered, patting Uyatd on the paw gently. The human softened their smile into an affectionate one. “We’ll be back soon, safe and alive.”

Uyatd blinked- Skip had pack bonded to vem, hadn’t they? Since when did that happen? It must have been between Uyatd’s nervous rambling or when ve stood over the human’s shoulder, watching them work. 

“See ya soon,” Hari beamed, slinging a gun over his shoulder. “Hopefully they surrender peacefully, but ya know. It’s always nice to have something just in case.”

Skip caught the weapon thrown at them in one hand, studying it intensely. Skip worked with mechanics and piloting, so the gun must be new to them. Still, they took it with stride and pushed it to hand over their shoulder.

“Toodles,” Hari and Skip high-fived in perfect synchronization as they disappeared down the hall. 

Uyatd shook ver head- humans didn’t have a hive mind, they had said? The liars.

________________________________________________________________

The rebels had surrendered with a couple of grumbles (and a shot to the leg, since the humans had to show they were completely willing to kill them if necessary) and audible relief that they were getting more fuel.

Fair enough. It wasn’t like they had much choice- surrender or die in the large expanse of space. Their food supplies would not last forever. Skip and Hari shared celebratory ‘whoops’ of excitement, performing a complicated hand shake.

They arrived back on their own ship with limited fuss, greeting a stressed Uyatd. The alien’s gills had gone a strange mix of green and purple- pride and fear. Skip merely grinned at vem and threw their arms around vem. 

Hari laughed at the surprised look on Uyatd’s face. It was a normal dynamic, as if the two humans had not chased down a powerful group of rebels across space, threatened to leave them starving, then saved them.

It was a human’s average Thursday.

[foldingfittedsheets]

I was watching a friends boxer puppy for a week and there’s an adjustment period. Her family is pretty much fine with her jumping all over them all the time and we’re not. When we try to stop her she’ll often run away like we’re playing so to deincentivize this behavior I’ll kennel her for a minute. When she tries to run I just calmly walk up to her. I let her run and bounce as far as she can from me and last night I just whispered to her, “it’s no use. Humans are persistence hunters.”

[thedevelopmentcommittee]

A comic that explores biological and physiological traits in humans, presented in the middle stone age of about 200,000 - 150,000 years ago. A previous fake-comic was centered around the biology of child birth and mitochondrial eve, this is the follow up that explores masculine aspects. This issue shows some of the more brutal sides of humanity, it’s my understanding that humans have always been just as brutal and wonderful as we have always been. From a biological and genetic point of view, the human condition has changed very little in the past two hundred thousand years.

Some sources pertaining to this fake-comic:

Sex and War: How Biology Explains Warfare and Terrorism and Offers a Path to a Safer World by Malcolm Potts and Thomas Hayden

Lone Survivors: How We Came to be the Only Humans on Earth by Chris Stringer

The Journey of Man: A Genetic Odyssey by Spencer Wells

Death From A Distance: and the Birth of A Humane Universe by Paul Bingham and Joanne Souza

[keydekyie]

Persistence

When you see it, you will think it strange and pitiful, but you will flee all the same Because it stares And flight has always served you well before. You will run for awhile, and it will be gone so you will return to your business.

When you see it again, you will think it foolish. How can it be so optimistic? But you will flee again, as before Because it still stares and Because running is easy for you.

You will run fast this time, and far. You will run until you are tired, and think Surely that is all. And you will return to your business You may even forget, for awhile.

But there it is, again And it stares, again. So you run, again. And run. And run.

You run until you have run farther than you’ve ever run. You run until your blood is fire And you cannot take another step. You cannot know, how could you? You were doomed from the moment it saw you.