[HN Gopher] Wild boars are able to open traps to free their fellows
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       Wild boars are able to open traps to free their fellows
        
       Author : giuliomagnifico
       Score  : 108 points
       Date   : 2021-08-30 10:27 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.nature.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.nature.com)
        
       | throwarayes wrote:
       | Reply all had a great podcast on the wild boar problem in the US
       | south, jumping off the "30-50 wild hogs" tweet
       | 
       | https://gimletmedia.com/shows/reply-all/n8hw3d
        
         | lostandbored wrote:
         | I feel bad for guy who tweeted as someone from East Texas. Main
         | reasons I want to go into hunting is to the keep wild boar
         | population in check, or at least slow their growth.
        
           | gaspard234 wrote:
           | I'm from Central texas, own 50 acres in the hill country and
           | own several ar-15's. This guy is delusional, no one is
           | shooting 30-50 hogs on their property. I only read the first
           | few paragraphs but so far the conversation is ridiculous.
           | 
           | The sharpest shooters can get a few as they scatter, they are
           | damn smart and very capable.
        
             | CoryMathews wrote:
             | They fly in helicopters and can shoot that many in a day.
             | Its usually very large areas (thousands of acres) with a
             | surrounding game fence. Since the hogs have no natural
             | predators they have to be removed somehow and this is one
             | common route. Vastly different scenario then a small 50
             | acre place.
        
               | teachrdan wrote:
               | According to what I've read, hunting hogs from
               | helicopters has made the problem worse. It's had the
               | effect of scattering them across a wider area.
               | 
               | Unless you can guarantee you'll kill all the hogs that
               | scatter due to the helicopter--not just the ones you see!
               | --then it's likely counterproductive.
        
             | h2odragon wrote:
             | Positive argument for the deployment of full auto weaponry
             | and possibly mines and other mass murder hardware.
        
               | curryst wrote:
               | That is not a good idea. Innocent people will die when
               | forgotten mines go off in a decade, and full auto
               | weaponry is probably overkill. I can't imagine your aim
               | is going to get any better when you're firing in full
               | auto, unless you're far closer than you want to be.
               | 
               | Plus there are far easier solutions. Poisoned corn does
               | about the same thing as mines, but with less risk
               | (assuming you put up signs) and cost. Both are probably
               | still bad ideas, though, because of the effect on other
               | wildlife.
        
               | h2odragon wrote:
               | "forgotten" mines? Perish the thought. I'm thinking
               | traps. like command detonated "kill the acre" measures.
               | 
               | I don't like poisoned bait for broadly similar reasons;
               | I'd like more targeted slaughter. It's not easy to get a
               | big gang that close together.
        
               | nathancahill wrote:
               | Don't encourage them
        
       | lostlogin wrote:
       | Reading the article had me wondering about these people who
       | devise these things. 'This conclusion was supported by a study in
       | which rats opened a door and freed a distressed, soaked cage mate
       | from a water tank. Moreover, rats did not open the door for
       | soaked cage mates that were not in distress.'
       | 
       | They clearly tormented at least a few animals.
        
       | forgotmypw17 wrote:
       | >Rescue behaviour represents an extreme form of prosocial
       | behaviour that has so far only been demonstrated in a few
       | species. It refers to a situation when one individual acts to
       | help another individual that finds itself in a dangerous or
       | stressful situation and it is considered by some authors as a
       | complex form of empathy.
       | 
       | https://www.foxnews.com/us/lone-goat-may-be-to-blame-for-new...
       | 
       | A goat who escaped a New Jersey livestock auction house more than
       | a year ago may be the one to blame for helping more than 75
       | others escape, the facility's manager said Thursday.
       | 
       | More than 75 goats and sheep escaped the Hackettstown Livestock
       | Auction on Wednesday night. Hackettstown police officers
       | responded to the scene and were able to herd up to 60 animals
       | into their pen. About 15 animals were believed to be on the run
       | still.
       | 
       | One goat who was able to escape the same auction house last year
       | is believed to be behind the escape, according to the New York
       | Post. The goat occasionally pops up around town.
       | 
       | After the escape, the goat showed up at the facility and
       | headbutted the gate holding the animals that had been caught in
       | an apparent effort to help them escape again, facility manager
       | Bouwe Postma told the New York Post.
       | 
       | "It was him [last night]," Postma told the newspaper. "I think
       | he's the culprit. He must have banged that fence and let him out
       | last night. I'm almost positive. He must have put a lot of force
       | into that."
       | 
       | The great escape came about a week after more than 100 goats
       | escaped in a Boise, Idaho neighborhood.
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | setgree wrote:
         | Came here to post this. I once heard a scientist say that
         | humans were his favorite species because only we will run into
         | a burning building to save others, especially others who are
         | not kin. The thing is, it's just not true. We're only beginning
         | to understand the inner lives of animals.
        
         | dbsmith83 wrote:
         | > About 15 animals were believed to be on the run still
         | 
         | Missed opportunity for an "on the lamb" pun
        
           | francoisdevlin wrote:
           | The article makes the joke in a caption
        
             | dbsmith83 wrote:
             | Thank goodness. How could a journalist _not_ make that joke
             | with this story?
        
           | lostlogin wrote:
           | "Kids these days" came to mind too.
        
           | ginko wrote:
           | How is that even a pun that's supposed to work? 'lamb' sounds
           | nothing like 'run'.
           | 
           | (also young goats are called kids, but that's a bit too much
           | hairsplitting even for me)
        
             | necrotic_comp wrote:
             | https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/84871/why-do-
             | criminals-g...
        
             | CatAtHeart wrote:
             | It's a pun on the phrase `on the lam` which means running
             | away (from the law)
        
             | dbsmith83 wrote:
             | Being "On the lam" means being on the run from the law
        
               | amock wrote:
               | The original phrase is "on the lam"
               | https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/on_the_lam
        
               | dbsmith83 wrote:
               | thanks for the spelling correction, updated
        
           | Jgrubb wrote:
           | Resident of the area reporting that the pun was deployed
           | successfully in local media.
        
       | LurkingPenguin wrote:
       | Smarter than many humans.
        
       | leephillips wrote:
       | I thought the locking mechanism of the trap was clever.
        
       | jcims wrote:
       | I saw a wasp help another wasp get its leg out of a gap between a
       | light fixture and some siding.
       | 
       | I saw the whole thing, I was watching the stuck wasp because it
       | was trying to fly away but its foot was pinned. As I'm watching,
       | another wasp flies by, slows down, turns around and lands by the
       | stuck one. The helper just kind of bit at the foot and pulled on
       | it. After a couple of tugs it broke free (or off) and they both
       | flew away.
       | 
       | I went and found how many neurons they have in their brain, I
       | can't find it now but it was under a million maybe 500k or so. I
       | thought it was remarkably complex behavior.
       | 
       | And then I killed them both. -\\_(tsu)_/-
        
       | aaron695 wrote:
       | > ants rescuing their colony members trapped in a nylon snare
       | buried in sand represent concrete examples of this phenomenon.
       | 
       | Whatever this paper is showing, it is nothing more than what ants
       | can do.
       | 
       | Also the current HN title contradicts the paper, it's not showing
       | if the pig could free the other pigs.
        
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       (page generated 2021-08-31 23:02 UTC)