Par <usenet@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
news:slrnftuloq.2do.usenet@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Gene Ward Smith <gene@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>:
>> > What's idiotic about a predator whose prey are humans?
>> >
>>
>> The situation cannot arise as a result of evolution.
>
> Predators change prey as available niches change.
Vampires are usually depicted as obligate predators on humans, though
admittedly not in a way which makes any biological sense. If they are not,
then they won't be predators on humans at all under most cir***stances,
since it's a lousy idea. And if they are really mostly powered by magic,
all bets are off.
>> Human prey are a very
>> difficult target, and until the rise of civilizations, were too few to
>> allow a population of specialized predators anyway.
>
> Not really. it all depends on what the requirements are of the predator
> relative to the prey population. If the prey population can sup****t a
> breeding population of the predator (i.e. you are more likley to find
> them in China than on Easter Island) then there is no reason they could
> not appear.
The point is, until relatively recent times the prey population could not
sup****t a breeding population of predators. And even today, it would get
noticed.
> There is a buttload of animals that food on humans, but we
> think of them as parasites and nasty microbes, not predators.
And if all vampires need to do is sneak around and get a few occasional
milliliters of human blood under the cover of magic, they might get away
with it. How is that going to work scientifically?
>> After humans became
>> numerous, you can imagine specialized predators hiding in our midst,
>> disguised as us, but you get two questions:
>>
>> (1) Where the hell did they come from?
>
> Earlier they were preying on monkeys in the jungle, but as people became
> more plentifull than monkeys some of them changed prey.
Sort of like the way leopards and jaguars did? Because humans, as is well
known, are dead easy. But why, then, are they stuck with humans?
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