The primary reason that they went extinct was due to a loss of food. The Maori hunted all of the moa species of bird (large and flightless) to extinction. Another prime example of natives living "in tune" with nature...
There are thousands of examples, in nature, of invading or adapting species eating out the food supply of other species, causing extinctions. This isn't an example of natives not living 'in tune' with nature, it's an example of people being 'a part of' nature.
I think you may have missed the sarcastic subtext of the original post. There's a recurrent myth in the modern world, especially in technologically developed societies, that "natives" or "primitive man" or whatever somehow lived and still live "in tune" with nature or in harmony with it or whatever. They all supposedly respect the land in a way we don't, are inherently wise, spiritual, blah, blah, blah.
You are, of course, correct in pointing out that hunting species to extinction is a very natural thing t
past and "primitive" societies would have exploited or would exploit nature as thoroughly as we do, anyway, were it not for limitations of populations and technology.
Dead on. The only reason the buffalo was still around in huge quantities was because native americans didn't have rifles, or horses for that matter.
Native cultures were famous for "slash and burn" agriculture, possibly the most destructive farming method around that leeches all the nitrates out of the soil in just a few ye
There are some ecologies where fire is essential to the overall health of the ecology. Tallgrass prairie, the home turf of the American bison, is one example. Lodgepole forests, the kind that burned in the 1988 Yellowstone fires, are another.
Now while Native Americans didn't have rifles or horses, they did a pretty good job of hunting buffalo through the use of fire and buffalo jumps. I would say that a lack of horses forced them to be a bit more careful about their environment, because of lack of transportation. That lack of transportation would also keep the population low.
In Tune... (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:1)
Re: (Score:5, Insightful)
I think you may have missed the sarcastic subtext of the original post. There's a recurrent myth in the modern world, especially in technologically developed societies, that "natives" or "primitive man" or whatever somehow lived and still live "in tune" with nature or in harmony with it or whatever. They all supposedly respect the land in a way we don't, are inherently wise, spiritual, blah, blah, blah.
You are, of course, correct in pointing out that hunting species to extinction is a very natural thing t
Re: (Score:5, Insightful)
past and "primitive" societies would have exploited or would exploit nature as thoroughly as we do, anyway, were it not for limitations of populations and technology.
Dead on. The only reason the buffalo was still around in huge quantities was because native americans didn't have rifles, or horses for that matter.
Native cultures were famous for "slash and burn" agriculture, possibly the most destructive farming method around that leeches all the nitrates out of the soil in just a few ye
Fire ecologies (Score:2)
There are some ecologies where fire is essential to the overall health of the ecology. Tallgrass prairie, the home turf of the American bison, is one example. Lodgepole forests, the kind that burned in the 1988 Yellowstone fires, are another.
Now while Native Americans didn't have rifles or horses, they did a pretty good job of hunting buffalo through the use of fire and buffalo jumps. I would say that a lack of horses forced them to be a bit more careful about their environment, because of lack of transportation. That lack of transportation would also keep the population low.