Evolution is just future-proofing Australian animals.
I’m a fan of “if it’s worth doing, it’s worth doing poorly”
Hrm… so then for you, “poorly” is “right”!? 😜
You never know when you’ll need to kill a herd of elephants, better be prepared.
Don’t tell me what to do, you are not my dad!
Reminds me of the advice my dad gave me on my wedding night: “if you ever go to Australia for any reason, then be prepared to kill a herd of elephants”
Words that I live by to this day
Search your feelings, you know it to be true!
You’re not mad at me, you’re mad at your dad! I forgive you!
Death held out a hand. I WANT, he said, A BOOK ABOUT THE DANGEROUS CREATURES OF FOURECKS-
Albert looked up and dived for cover, receiving only mild bruising because he had the foresight to curl into a ball.
After a while Death, his voice a little muffled, said: ALBERT, I WOULD BE SO GRATEFUL IF YOU COULD GIVE ME A HAND HERE.
Albert scrambled up and pulled at some of the huge volumes, finally dislodging enough of them for his master to clamber free.
HMM… Death picked up a book at random and read the cover. “DANGEROUS MAMMALS, REPTILES, AMPHIBIANS, BIRDS, FISH, JELLYFISH, INSECTS, SPIDERS, CRUSTACEANS, GRASSES, TREES, MOSSES, AND LICHENS OF TERROR INCOGNITA,” he read. His gaze moved down the spine. VOLUME 29C, he added. OH. PART THREE, I SEE.
He glanced up at the listening shelves. POSSIBLY IT WOULD BE SIMPLER IF I ASKED FOR A LIST OF THE HARMLESS CREATURES OF THE AFORESAID CONTINENT?
They waited.
IT WOULD APPEAR THAT-
“No, wait master. Here it comes.”
Albert pointed to something white zigzagging lazily through the air. Finally Death reached up an caught the single sheet of paper.
He read it carefully and then turned it over briefly just in case anything was written on the other side.
“May I?” said Albert. Death handed him the paper.
“‘Some of the sheep,’” Albert read aloud. “Oh, well. Maybe a week at the seaside’d be better, then.”
Never enough Discworld
They understood perfectly well, too bad that they have no idea what an elephant is so they got venom that could kill anything, just in case
They understood perfectly well, too bad that they have no idea what an elephant is so they got venom that could kill anything, just in case
Their ancestors knew. And they solved that problem.
I love Australia but I’ve always wondered what exactly it is about Australia that made evolution go “yes, let’s make this place like Master Mode in BOTW where everything is OP, wants to kill you, and can one-shot you”
It’s really more of an easy mode with a couple of super unlucky bullshit gameovers scattered around than a master mode. Look at how many builds have overtaken the Australian meta since their introduction: dogs, cats (okay, they’re an apex predator everywhere), foxes, rabbits, cane toads, mice, rats, deer, camels, scottish thistles, horses… I could go on.
Castle doctrine but it’s mother nature and also sometimes your house
I mean yeah it’s one-shot land but I’d feel more comfortable in the Australian bush than in other territories, a lot of these creatures can be avoided with a little bit of knowledge and caution, but there’s no large predators
Most large creatures here can beat the shit out of you but they wouldn’t unless you threatened them.
Waste of points, could spent it into INT or HP. Fucking glass cannon species.
The emus didnt only start a war with humans u know.
Fucking warmongering dinosaur cunts…
Perhaps we have not yet found the animals that they have had to kill in the past to survive…
Blue ringed octopus is just using tetrodotoxin though, it’s not like they developed that toxin through evolution. Bacteria are the ones that made TTX so toxic. I’m not impressed.
Bacteria be like “You merely adopted the tetrodotoxin. I was born in it, molded by it…”
Cone snails represent
Sometimes I wonder if this is a deathworld by planetary standards. Like we go to other planets and its super chill.
Something like the first part this: https://youtu.be/x1aZEz8BQiU?ol0IyB2BmDW4VBov
I mean if the venom you stumble into is too strong, would you bother weakening it?
Kill? Why not paralyze or severely wound? Slow enough that you can kill with I don’t know a pointed stick, rock or gravity? Why make the venom do all the dirty work?
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I feel like if evolution is correct (I’m confident it is) then it must be evolutionarily advantageous to have the capacity to kill a herd of elephants with one’s toxin, assuming all animals in the group have that capacity.
A lot of people think of “venomous” as being a one-dimensional property like strength or speed that you have to build your way up towards. But really it’s just how this substance your body produces that reacts with another substance in another creature who evolved on a whole other continent to you.
There doesn’t need to be a strong evolutionary imperative to be able to kill a herd of elephants, it’s enough for there to not be a strong disincentive not to produce enough venom to do it.
right but if I’m thinking correctly (maybe not) then if it “merely” wasn’t harmful, wouldn’t there be room for variation within the species of toxicity?
Basically it means the animal’s prey(/predators for defensive toxins) has evolved a massive resistance to the toxin that elephants haven’t.
Australian animals don’t need to kill Elephants
Not anymore
Very few animals (probably none) that rely on venom have any need for killing elephants, including those who live near elephants. What’s a spider supposed to do with a 2 ton carcass?
What’s a spider supposed to do with a 2 ton carcass?
It’s for the achievement.
Apparently they didn’t get the memo.
