Re: FT-Fighters and SG-aliens

On Thu, 05 Apr 2001 12:15:55 +1000, Beth Fulton
<beth.fulton@marine.csiro.au>
wrote:

>Sorry I don't know anything about them.

They are an interesting critter, in an otherwise unremarkable book. 

To point out something mentioned earlier, yes, it would be nasty to put
intelligence in a big predator. One of the reasons it didn't happen here
is
that those big predators spent a lot of time eating enough protein to
keep
their bodies going. 

Primates, however, had a lot more "spare time". Chimps and other
primates have
complex social orders and have complex play sessions. They spend
considerably
less of their time gathering food and eating than most other animals.

One advantage in primates is their digestive system. Humans can, lets
face it,
eat a lot of different stuff! Cats, however, are almost entirely
carnivores.
Dogs (wolves) are omnivores, but can't handle the same degree of change
in
their diet as humans. 

The big cats are territorial, which is good considering that high
population
density is not a good thing in a primate that needs so much food.
Canines
(wolves, hyenas, foxes) are more social, but don't have the same food
requirements, and they are omnivorous (okay, not sure about hyenas, but
I know
wolves are). Primates, however, are far more social. This social aspect
seems
to be important, tied with the "free time". 

In other words, big cats with intelligence would be a nasty critter...
but you
won't find big cats with intelligence. 

As for humans being physically weak, humans have amazing stamina. A
human can
travel further than a horse. You'd be hard pressed, in fact, to find a
land
animal with the physical stamina of a human. For obvious reasons, most
are
built for short bursts of speed. A human could physically take on a
wolf, too.
A wolf pack, no. But an individual wolf versus a fit, prepared human?
Could
be. In spite of those claws on the wolf, a human can be pretty nasty. We
underestimate the power of the human jaw as we don't use it for
fighting.
Once, of course, we put the intelligence and tool use to work, we can't
be
beaten. Not on this planet, anyway.

Allan Goodall		       awg@sympatico.ca
Goodall's Grotto:  http://www.vex.net/~agoodall

"Now, see, if you combine different colours of light,
 you get white! Try that with Play-Doh and you get
 brown! How come?" - Alan Moore & Kevin Nolan,