• Welcome to the new Internet Infidels Discussion Board, formerly Talk Freethought.

A science question about the Mad Max films

P

Potoooooooo

Contributor
Joined
Dec 4, 2006
Messages
7,004
Location
Floridas
Basic Beliefs
atheist
I am sure you all remember the pig *beep* generators from Beyond Thunderdome.I have to wonder what those pigs were eating. There were a whole lot of very large pigs, and apparently killing them was a crime. What were the rulers of Bartertown feeding them? I know pigs are omnivorous and not terribly picky. But the town was in a desert, there didn't seem to be any crops nearby.If the people were living on stored food and what ever they could forage, I would think they would be very frugal and not leave much in the way of scraps or leftovers and food that had gone rancid would still probably be eaten. So what was there for that horde of swine to eat? Even if they were feeding them things like human corpses and excrement, would there be enough to sustain them?
 
There are huge numbers of feral pigs in the Australian outback. They live in scrubby desert just like that around Bartertown, nobody feeds them, and yet they seem to thrive. I don't know what they eat, but there must be something out there that they like - it shouldn't be too hard for the residents to find out what it is.
 
bilby said:
There are huge numbers of feral pigs in the Australian outback. They live in scrubby desert just like that around Bartertown, nobody feeds them, and yet they seem to thrive. I don't know what they eat, but there must be something out there that they like - it shouldn't be too hard for the residents to find out what it is.
Click to expand...

As bilby said, it's set in the Australian Outback. people manage to find food to eat out there no matter what, so surely the pigs can eat.
 
Would not think too hard about questions like this one. Mythbusters (and a few others) have explored many movies and found that there is a bit gap between reality and movies.
 
As the great philosopher, TV's Frank, once said:
If you're wondering how he eats and breathes,
And other science facts.
La. La. La.
Repeat to yourself it's just a show.
I should really just relax.
 
Potoooooooo said:
I am sure you all remember the pig *beep* generators from Beyond Thunderdome.I have to wonder what those pigs were eating. There were a whole lot of very large pigs, and apparently killing them was a crime. What were the rulers of Bartertown feeding them? I know pigs are omnivorous and not terribly picky. But the town was in a desert, there didn't seem to be any crops nearby.If the people were living on stored food and what ever they could forage, I would think they would be very frugal and not leave much in the way of scraps or leftovers and food that had gone rancid would still probably be eaten. So what was there for that horde of swine to eat? Even if they were feeding them things like human corpses and excrement, would there be enough to sustain them?
Click to expand...

It's a valid question. Pigs compete with humans for food. Anything a human eats, a pig can eat it too. This makes pigs a bad investment in an arid country. This is the origin of the pork taboo in the middle east. The only way to sustain pigs as a food source is to feed them grain. The grain could be better used to make bread for people. Ruminants such as goats, sheep, and cattle convert grass to wool, milk and meat. Meat is the least productive use of grazing land. Commercial beef production consumes tremendous amounts of grain, which means it is only viable in industrialized countries which can produce great grain surpluses.

A sparse wild pig population could sustain themselves on roots and fruit, but they tear the hell out of an environment where they are not native. The Bartertown pigs are just a simple plot device, but no more realistic than any of the other amazing things in Max's world.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom