Why you can't outrun a cheetah, explained.

[ledboots]

You can hear an alligator near your house?! That is actually terrifying...

Lol, the male gators are noisy with scary rumbling growls at mating season, mostly. Just about every fresh water body in Florida has at least one alligator in it. They hide very well and don't move much, . Unless they are huge, over 6 or 7 feet, they aren't a threat to humans. It is rare for one to attack a person, no matter how big it is. They aren't as badass as crocodiles.

The real worry is for small dogs. Some idiot humans feed the alligators, who then associate humans with food, and if someone walks by with a dog on a leash, .

Oh Spang, I asked a park ranger once about the zigzag run thing to escape a gator, and he said the alligator would just think I was drunk and an easier mark.

 

[hungryraccoon]

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This is why I live in safe old England!

 

[ledboots]

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This is why I live in safe old England!

But just this morning on my 15 minute dog walk, I saw a great blue heron, a bunch of white ibises, squirrels, seagulls, crows, and a black racer snake. Lots of wildlife. No gators or flying roaches, though.

 

[kazyeeqen]

I would love to live for a time in southern climes, but I think I'm a northern girl at heart and would get sick of the oversized insects and animals with poison in them.

As well as all the heat!

 

[das_nut]

Trivia time:

Humans may have evolved to be excellent runners, just in a different way than cheetahs. There's something called "persistent hunting", which humans are excellent at. It involves chasing an animal for hours until the animal cannot run any further. Many animals are excellent at short quick runs, but very few are good at running for long periods of time. Humans are one of the exception, and even today, a few isolated people such at the Kalahari Bushmen will chase an antelope until the antelope collapses due to heat exhaustion.

 

[yakherder]

Trivia time:

Humans may have evolved to be excellent runners, just in a different way than cheetahs. There's something called "persistent hunting", which humans are excellent at. It involves chasing an animal for hours until the animal cannot run any further. Many animals are excellent at short quick runs, but very few are good at running for long periods of time. Humans are one of the exception, and even today, a few isolated people such at the Kalahari Bushmen will chase an antelope until the antelope collapses due to heat exhaustion.

Hunting focused or not, I've always thought the video of the Bushmen running down their prey was inspiring. How helpless we've all become nowadays

 

[kazyeeqen]

Hunting focused or not, I've always thought the video of the Bushmen running down their prey was inspiring. How helpless we've all become nowadays

It's because of the oh-so-convenient bipedal motion that made us all get big brained and soft though.

 

[Blobbenstein]