• switcheroo@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    12 hours ago

    Herbivores will wreck your life if you mess with them. Remember that twit hunter who approached a deer and paid for it? Or all those other twits who need to be reminded bison in Yellowstone are NOT friendly just because they’re fluffy?

  • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    86
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    1 day ago

    This is why cows kill so many people. Its really easy for an animal five or six times your weight to kill you just by interacting the same way it does with its own species.

    That gets worse as the animal gets bigger.

    And cows are basically calm little angels compared to say, hippos.

      • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        ·
        edit-2
        17 hours ago

        Anyone who’s played Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead will tell you: Moose are NOT to be messed with. Hoo boi.

        In the right (wrong?) season, if you see them across the map, pray they haven’t seen you.

        I imagine this models a healthy respect for real moose too lol.

        • FarceOfWill@infosec.pub
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          19 hours ago

          I have played Vintage Story and moose are the apex predator for me. Ill fight any number of horrifying eldritch rot rust monsters from another dimension before i go near a moose.

          • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            2
            ·
            6 hours ago

            LOL sounds like that game gets it right too! I’ll have to check out Vinyard Story.

            In Cataclysm DDA there’s something called an “antlered horror.” Basically undead moose.

            Sheer. Friggin. Terror!

            Obligatory:

            “A Møøse once bit my sister …”

            “Mynd you, møøse bites Kan be pretty nasti…”

            “We apologise for the fault in the subtitles. Those responsible have been sacked.”

      • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        15 hours ago

        I mean, the other part of “why do so many people die from cows” is along the lines of “They work with cow every day”.

  • HuntressHimbo@lemmy.zip
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    58
    ·
    1 day ago

    One of the creatures I’m most worried about meeting camping or hiking is a moose. If they had a moose’s temperament they would have been one of the most terrifying things to walk the earth. They would also probably be getting hammered off fermented prehistoric fruit

    • psud@aussie.zone
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      8 hours ago

      I live in (not tropical) Australia, so there are practically no animals that are dangerous (camels and big roos might do you harm if you got them at speed in a car)

      No lions, tigers, wolves, or bears here. No hippos, no elephants

      We have crocodiles way up north, but even they won’t go after you if you stay out of the water

      Spiders, octopuses, jellyfish and snakes:

      Harmful spiders are redbacks (which are the same spider as black widows) and Sydney funnelwebs, neither of which chase you or seek your shoes (do check under the dunny seat for redbacks though, but it’s not an issue in indoor toilets). Don’t dig up web lined holes with your hands and you won’t be bitten by a funnelwebs

      The blue ringed octopus is the only dangerous octopus and it tries to keep out of your way. If it is trapped in a small tidal pool don’t pick it up and you won’t be envenomated

      Jellyfish - don’t swim in the ocean where there are signs telling you not to swim in the ocean. Box jellies and irukandji are regional and seasonal and the beaches they threaten are well signposted (that’s also in the tropics and just south of the tropics)

      Snakes - Australian snakes aren’t dangerous. They are highly venomous but they don’t want to risk tangling with humans; humans eat them, and have for 40,000 years (that’s 4 times longer than humans have had bread). Give them room and they’ll move off. They pretty much won’t bite unless you corner them, try to catch them, or step on them.

      In most of Australia you could sleep unprotected, with your food in an esky at your feet

      Australian parrots are big on getting hammered on fermenting fruit

  • F/15/Cali@threads.net@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    53
    ·
    1 day ago

    Giant modern herbivores I would willingly pet in the wild. Buffalo: no. Elephant: no. Reindeer: no. Rhino: no. Water buffalo: no. Giraffe: no. Hippo: no.

    Based on modern examples, I’d stay the fuck away.

  • u_u@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    37
    ·
    1 day ago

    Remember, the wise phrase of “If not friend, why friend-shaped?” is not only for bears.

  • LOGIC💣@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    34
    ·
    1 day ago

    I’ve seen videos of horses and deer eating small animals. I don’t remember which was which but one just picked like a pigeon up off the ground and started chewing.

    Anyways, the point is that the herbivores we know today will often eat meat if it’s an easy meal. There’s no reason to think that a brachiosaurus would be any different.

  • Seleni@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    18
    ·
    1 day ago

    Who started the assumption that herbivores were all sweet harmless cuddle bugs anyhow? Because they had obviously never interacted with a large herbivore before.

    • Jankatarch@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      15 hours ago

      Both of them attack. It’s just that carnivores treat it as you owe them money.

      And herbivores treat it as they owe you money.

    • ryathal@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      11
      ·
      1 day ago

      Most people aren’t ever really exposed to nature. You can have a cuddly dairy cow, but that’s not universal. Most encounters people have are going to be with animals that are docile and used to human interactions.

      Also it is a little counter intuitive at first. Predators will retreat from a fight of it’s not worth the effort. Prey doesn’t retreat once the fight starts, because it’s literally life or death for them.

      • Manjushri@piefed.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        23 hours ago

        You can have a cuddly dairy cow, but that’s not universal.

        Far from universal. About 20 people die per year in the USA from attacks by cows. They are huge powerful animals that don’t generally don’t give a shit about people (they’re used to them, for the most part) but if they decide you are a threat to them or their calf, you’re fucked.

          • smh@slrpnk.net
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            ·
            19 hours ago

            My understanding: dairy cows interact with humans on a regular basis, for dairy stuff. Beef animals don’t interact with humans nearly as much.

    • Mirshe@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      9
      ·
      1 day ago

      People are gored by bison at Yellowstone every year. When I visited a few years ago, the rangers were actively having to tell people to avoid an elk who, with his harem, had decided to hang out in Fort Yellowstone for a couple days. People are dumb, or don’t think “wow that’s a 600+ lb animal the size of a minivan”.