Pocket of Bolts just sent me a link to this amazing story about a whale that was found with a more than 100 year old lance head in its shoulder, more specifically dated to around 1890. The whale had to have been big enough at that time to be worth shooting at, and also to have survived the shot--the weapon was a pretty nasty one, firing in projectile which would lodge in a whale and explode. In fact, it was the same sort of weapon that killed the whale this time around...
It seems wrong to kill a thing that can peacefully live much longer than we do. It makes me think about whether longevity should be a criterion for whether it's okay to kill things. So killing mosquitoes is fine, as well as fish, chickens, etc. Pigs and cows one would be more cautious about. Elephants which can live nearly as long as we can, probably ought to be left alone, while tortoises and whales--and trees!--would be completely untouchable. I kind of like this scheme. What do you think?
8 comments:
Eh...but you have to think that there are animals with shorter lifespans than us that would kill us in a heartbeat (sharks, grizzly bears, boa constrictors). Though I'm wondering...do any of those animals with *longer* lifespans tend to snack on people?
It might be fairer to say we shouldn't eat animals that wouldn't eat us. But seeing that I'm an unapologetic omnivore, I won't be the one to say that ;)
I think this is going to more or less track the "ok to eat r-selected, not ok to eat k-selected" criterion I proposed a while back. Which means I like it :)
Andrea, Pocket of Bolts (a vegetarian) occasionally advances the argument that we should only eat things that would eat us. However, I think we don't necessarily have to put ourselves down to their level, so reciprocal eating is not really a criterion for me. Besides, mean creatures just aren't very tasty. :P I'm also a mostly unapologetic omnivore, and tastiness does figure in...!
Pocket of Bolts: You are wrong. Turtles and tortoises at least are r-selected.
I think the funniest feature of my theory is the fact that it ends up that we shouldn't kill trees. :)
Trees are a funny case for r/k selection theory; I suspect turtles are probably similar. They hit a funny point where you have insane infant mortality (can you call saplings `infants' in that context?) but anything that survives to adulthood lives for a really long time.
I propose that the mature forms of these should fall in the `don't eat' category--not because they are long-lived, though, ZP, but because they bear a disproportionate amount of the reproductive burden of the species. Saplings and baby turtles are fair game. :P
As for eating things that would eat you, that's just self-defense. Though, Andrea, to be fair I once described this to famous philosopher MS, who claimed that it was "the stupidest thing he had ever heard" and that "he used to think that I was smart, but that alone made him reconsider". Granted, he was very drunk, even for an australian...
Also, long lifespan+snacks on people = Moby Dick.
What about lobsters? They have Nasty pinching claws and a primitive nervous system, but can live peacefully for up to 100 years. Does this DQ them from eating?
Then again, i've eaten whale so i'm not sure i can comment on the issue at all.
MWSTW: You've eaten whale?!?! You are evil. Was it tasty? I was intrigued by the chapter in Moby Dick where Stubb kills the first whale and makes someone go down in the dead of night and cut him out a whale steak. I was powerfully curious what it tasted like. Can lobsters REALLY live 100 years? I had absolutely no idea. They are very Nasty and mean, I agree. But no wonder they fight so hard when you kill them. They have a lot to live for. Isn't there some story about your mom getting chased across the kitchen by lobsters? Or something? Am I making that up?
PoB: I don't think it's fair to eat baby tortoises because they have a hard enough time as it is. But I may have to agree with you on saplings. Though I've never eaten a sapling.
Andrea: I bet hundred year old lobsters would eat people too, if they could get their Nasty claws on us!
Lobsters as a species put the cant in cantankerous.
Whale tastes horrible as sashimi (just too bloody, feels wrong) but pretty good with a light flour coating and pan fried. Yes i ate it 2x but wasn't aware what i was eating the second time until after the fact. It was like a very tender but robust tasting piece of meat. The proper term for the cut in Japan is "whale bacon, i belive."
You're fight about the lobster chasing my mother, but rest assured she prevailed in the end. She has a picture to prove it.
Not going to comment on the baby turtles as i have eaten sea turtle as well. My own fault for not asking what was on the sashimi platter before eating it.
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