It is kinda weird that humans are so resilient to so many things though. It’s part of being scavenging omnivores, but alients with a more specialized diet might be weirded out.
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Olgratin_Magmatoe@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Would aliens actually be weirded out by this quality of humans?
I feel like any sufficiently intelligent species living on a planet will have some degree of biodiversity on said planet. And the chances of something being made to be a poison/deterrent for creatures other than the intelligent species is probably a large one, because it’s pretty hard for plants and animals to make a poison/deterrent that kills everything without also killing itself. So if there is a gap for itself, there is a gap for other life to coexist with the toxin.
So I’d think it would be pretty natural for intelligent life to eat things that are harmful to huge swaths of other creatures.
Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
P00ptart@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Dogs can eat rotting meat and lick unwashed balls and ass but die from fucking grapes. 🤷🏼♂️
Olgratin_Magmatoe@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Potentially. But think of it this way, there are somewhere around 400,000 plant species out there.
news.mongabay.com/…/many-plants-world-scientists-…
Based on this list, something on the order of like 99.5% of plants are either not safe, or not useful/beneficial. If other species on our planet share a similar rate without complete overlap, then it’s practically a guarantee that there will be thousands of plants that are safe and useful for us but not for other species. That doesn’t feel particularly strange or unlikely. So even with a specialized diet, I don’t think the numbers would be much different.
It also could be the case that being scavenging omnivores is a strong precursor to becoming intelligent. If your species is on the rise in terms of intelligence, you’re probably using that to expand your food sources wide and far.
Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
That’s based on species though, so it would overrepresent unlikely encounters. I can go eat pine bark or grass on any continent and probably be A-OK.
I do wonder how that data compares with other mammals though. Is it just average, or is it significantly higher?
Olgratin_Magmatoe@lemmy.world 1 day ago
That’s based on species though, so it would overrepresent unlikely encounters.
That is fair, but also consider that an intelligent species isn’t going to be limited by chance encounters. I regularly eat bananas, but I don’t live in India. I regularly eat pineapples, but I don’t live in Costa Rica. Very little of my diet is comprised of food that is native to my area. As an intelligent species, we farm food en masse, ship it around the world, and plant things outside of their natural habitat.
I do wonder how that data compares with other mammals though. Is it just average, or is it significantly higher?
Purely speculating, I’d wager slightly above average as a result of the thing I said about omnivores being a precursor to becoming intelligent.
1rre@discuss.tchncs.de 1 day ago
For mammals we are, sure, but there’s loads of things that’d kill humans that other animals chow down on perfectly happily, especially when it comes to microorganisms, mushrooms and the rotting things they’re often found in/around
I don’t think scavenging is right also given that, humans used to mainly pick fresh fruits and persistence hunt, both of which are very fresh food which is not overlooked or left by others
Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Scavenging carcasses and chasing predators away from a kill is definitely a behavior we had in the past. Particularly during droughts and famines, scavenging would be an important food source on the Saharan scrubland. IIRC, this would’ve been before persistence hunting was a thing, back in the H.erectus days, maybe even as far back as some Australopiths.
CrazyLikeGollum@lemmy.world 1 day ago
We would also scavenge fallen fruits and berries that were at least partially decayed. It’s most likely how we discovered the intoxicating effects of alcohol.
toynbee@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I know it’s just a typo, but the image “alients” conjured in my head is pretty funny. I have less than zero artistic talent or I’d share it with you all. Hopefully the mental image is enough.
Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 1 day ago
Aliens tree people is an interesting picture indeed.
whotookkarl@lemmy.world 1 day ago
If we were the aliens and came across two worlds inhabited by intelligent life I would probably be more weirded out by the one where nobody uses any mind altering substance like caffeine that are poisonous to other animals.
DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 1 day ago
Works best with the Earth-is-a-deathworld trope
bluewing@lemm.ee 7 hours ago
Level 12 Deathworld.