Anyone familiar with Bill Whittle?

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

I ask, because I saw a video on Facebook where he talks about gun control, comparing it to removing the antlers from a gazelle (thereby making predators such as cheetahs more likely to eat it). When I looked up more information on him, apparently, he sees the "global warming agenda" is wrong, which made me curious.

 

[Bronzeage]

I know the name, but I'm sure there are many Bill Whittles. So you have a link?

Anyone who has the slightest knowledge of zoology knows that horned mammals use their horns only on their own species. The gazelle who stops to face off with a cheetah quickly becomes cheetah chow.

 

[dockeen]

When I first saw the thread title, I translated it into Frank Whittle, the British jet engine pioneer.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Ya, you could probably count on your hands the number of cheetahs who've accidentally run into a gazelle's antlers over the years. They're not really an effective anti-predator defense and really only useful against your own kind.

Hey, it is a good analogy for gun ownership!

 

[EricK]

I know the name, but I'm sure there are many Bill Whittles. So you have a link?

Anyone who has the slightest knowledge of zoology knows that horned mammals use their horns only on their own species. The gazelle who stops to face off with a cheetah quickly becomes cheetah chow.

I have seen a herd of sable antelope use their horns to fend off a pack of wild dogs (Kruger National Park c.1985). So even if the primary purpose of antelopes' horns is intra-species fighting, there are at least some species which also use them for defence against predators.

 

[Bronzeage]

I know the name, but I'm sure there are many Bill Whittles. So you have a link?

Anyone who has the slightest knowledge of zoology knows that horned mammals use their horns only on their own species. The gazelle who stops to face off with a cheetah quickly becomes cheetah chow.

I have seen a herd of sable antelope use their horns to fend off a pack of wild dogs (Kruger National Park c.1985). So even if the primary purpose of antelopes' horns is intra-species fighting, there are at least some species which also use them for defence against predators.

Dogs kill by running their prey to exhaustion. I suspect the antelope that decides to stand and fight is near that point. The dogs will wait. Why would a prey animal wait around for the entire pack to assemble.

 

[EricK]

I have seen a herd of sable antelope use their horns to fend off a pack of wild dogs (Kruger National Park c.1985). So even if the primary purpose of antelopes' horns is intra-species fighting, there are at least some species which also use them for defence against predators.

Dogs kill by running their prey to exhaustion. I suspect the antelope that decides to stand and fight is near that point. The dogs will wait. Why would a prey animal wait around for the entire pack to assemble.

These formed a protective ring around the young of the herd and fended off the dogs. Presumably if they run, the dogs catch the young.

 

[Bronzeage]

Dogs kill by running their prey to exhaustion. I suspect the antelope that decides to stand and fight is near that point. The dogs will wait. Why would a prey animal wait around for the entire pack to assemble.

These formed a protective ring around the young of the herd and fended off the dogs. Presumably if they run, the dogs catch the young.

That's interesting. I suppose the dogs lose interest and go find something else to eat, but most animal herds let the predator take one and the rest escape.

It still sucks as an analogy for gun control.

 

[WAB]

I know the name, but I'm sure there are many Bill Whittles. So you have a link?

Anyone who has the slightest knowledge of zoology knows that horned mammals use their horns only on their own species.

http://www.nationalturk.com/en/bull...r-gored-through-chin-in-madrid-spain-56646415

 

[Bronzeage]

I know the name, but I'm sure there are many Bill Whittles. So you have a link?

Anyone who has the slightest knowledge of zoology knows that horned mammals use their horns only on their own species.

http://www.nationalturk.com/en/bull...r-gored-through-chin-in-madrid-spain-56646415

Somedays it sucks to be a matador. Be that as it may, bullfighting is not a natural state for either humans or cows.

 

[WAB]

http://www.nationalturk.com/en/bull...r-gored-through-chin-in-madrid-spain-56646415

Somedays it sucks to be a matador. Be that as it may, bullfighting is not a natural state for either humans or cows.

Agreed. I have no problem with sportsmanship, but bloodsport is fucked up. Bullfighting is stupid enough, but I think the traditional British fox hunt takes the cake for barbarous behavior on the part of so-called 'civilized' people. I'd like to get an avid fox hunter into a fenced area with an angry fox, with no weapons, and see what happens.

Come to think of it, I'd like to get an unarmed Ted Nugent into a fenced area with an angry twelve-point buck, and see what happens.



...Oh, alright, I don't really WANT to see any animal harmed by another animal, but you get my drift, I think.

 

[Bronzeage]

Somedays it sucks to be a matador. Be that as it may, bullfighting is not a natural state for either humans or cows.

Agreed. I have no problem with sportsmanship, but bloodsport is fucked up. Bullfighting is stupid enough, but I think the traditional British fox hunt takes the cake for barbarous behavior on the part of so-called 'civilized' people. I'd like to get an avid fox hunter into a fenced area with an angry fox, with no weapons, and see what happens.

Come to think of it, I'd like to get an unarmed Ted Nugent into a fenced area with an angry twelve-point buck, and see what happens.



...Oh, alright, I don't really WANT to see any animal harmed by another animal, but you get my drift, I think.

Bullfighting is not a sport in any sense of the word. It is a ritualistic animal sacrifice in which the animal has a slight chance of sacrificing a human. Trying to understand it in modern human sensibilities is futile.