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#food Why are there so many males in herds/flocks of grazing animals ?
Grazing animals live in large mobs, typically with 1 alpha male and maybe 30 females.
Yet the ratio of m/f is about 50/50. So what happens to the surplus males?
The competition to be Alpha male is intense
Grazing animals live in large mobs, typically with 1 alpha male and maybe 30 females.
Yet the ratio of m/f is about 50/50. So what happens to the surplus males?
The competition to be Alpha male is intense
Challengers abound. Aries the ram didn’t get to be the ancient symbol of war by being nice and gentle.
Rams fly at each other and smash their heads together in the eternal contest to pass on their genes and the losers end up crippled or maimed
The winner takes the flock
Rams fly at each other and smash their heads together in the eternal contest to pass on their genes and the losers end up crippled or maimed
The winner takes the flock
This is nature’s way of ensuring the father of the lambs is the strongest sheep.
The young rams fight amongst themselves as well, and the losers get crippled. It doesn’t stop them of course, they are always hanging around the flock trying to get back in.
So why does it happen?
The young rams fight amongst themselves as well, and the losers get crippled. It doesn’t stop them of course, they are always hanging around the flock trying to get back in.
So why does it happen?
The structure of the flock then is
A. A nucleus of alpha male with breeding females and young
B. A ring of aggressive potential sires looking for a slice of the action and a chance to breed
C. An outer ring of crippled & maimed ex alpha males and wounded would be suitors
A. A nucleus of alpha male with breeding females and young
B. A ring of aggressive potential sires looking for a slice of the action and a chance to breed
C. An outer ring of crippled & maimed ex alpha males and wounded would be suitors
Enter the predators.
They are hungry. The first thing they come across is the outer circle.
Hmmm. Crippled sheep, easy mark. Dinner!!!
No bottle of claret and mint sauce here, just kill & eat it
They are hungry. The first thing they come across is the outer circle.
Hmmm. Crippled sheep, easy mark. Dinner!!!
No bottle of claret and mint sauce here, just kill & eat it
Thing is, whilst they are eating the surplus males, they aren’t eating the breeding females and babies which are better protected by the aggressive males
So it’s a survival mechanism that’s evolved over millennia.
And that is pretty much the way we farm animals today
So it’s a survival mechanism that’s evolved over millennia.
And that is pretty much the way we farm animals today
It is a matriarchal social structure
The female lines go back years, the males come and go and are eaten. We protect the flock from predators, but we are the predators. Except we eat them nicely with potatoes, gravy and a bottle of red.
From the sheeps POV, nothing’s changed
The female lines go back years, the males come and go and are eaten. We protect the flock from predators, but we are the predators. Except we eat them nicely with potatoes, gravy and a bottle of red.
From the sheeps POV, nothing’s changed
