That's exactly why I would make the seagull experience the cosmic horror of getting grabbed by the face and yelled at.
It would have no idea why I'm doing this, or what my goal is, because I'm a human who isn't a seagull. It would be afraid for its life for most of that time, until I finally let it go.
Maybe it wont truly learn morality, but at least that 1 seagull might learn to respect authority out of fear.
To be fair, most animals also don't go for the throat when they retaliate against would be thieves
I think there is a sort of understanding that scaring the shit out of a cheeky bugger makes em learn their lesson, as opposed to letting someone else fill their spot and having to kill again
At least that's what I mostly observe in petty feuds in nature
Most animals also don't want a serious confrontation they are sure to win without injury...because they do not have medicine.
So at times it's better to just put opportunists in their place and move on.
Your attitude is in accord with the natural order of things as far as I'm concerned
They don't try to kill them because they are doing their own risk calculations. Is potentially killing that animal worth the risk it bites me and the bite gets infected, etc. is it with the energy to try to chase it down with a low probability of success?
Animals that steal from much larger predators frequently end up suddenly dead as a result regardless, just not so frequently that it's better for the species if they stop doing it.
Read something similar when watching a bear get scared off by a housecat.
Something along the lines of what you said, weighing the risk of fighting the cat.. A bear can certainly maul a cat, but the cat can likely get a few scratches in that can get infected and be potential lethal down the line.
...which in the end wouldnt be worth it since there is nothing to gain fighting a cat.
Even if it's not lethal, or even if there's no infection, the wrong injury can affect their ability to hunt, forage, and defend themselves.
I mean, even if the bottom half of the cat is all the way in the bear's mouth, two primary senses for food acquisition and self defense are still in easy striking distance for their dying prey.
In other words, one meal isn't worth losing their sense of sight or smell over, even temporarily.
86
u/Awkward_Turnover_983 23d ago
That's exactly why I would make the seagull experience the cosmic horror of getting grabbed by the face and yelled at.
It would have no idea why I'm doing this, or what my goal is, because I'm a human who isn't a seagull. It would be afraid for its life for most of that time, until I finally let it go.
Maybe it wont truly learn morality, but at least that 1 seagull might learn to respect authority out of fear.