As much as we Americans give guff (and rightfully so) to Europeans for being so weird about nature, let's not forget that Americans are super not immune to it either.

Americans insist constantly that coyotes are going to attack children (your child is exponentially more likely to be seriously injured by their own dog) or that coyotes lure dogs to their deaths by leading them into the waiting pack (your stupid idiot dog with no recall chased a pack of coyotes that fought back and suddenly the coyotes are at fault here?)

But the one that drove me insane the most was the guy who shot the first opossum to be documented this far north in hundreds of years because he was afraid that a 3 pound opossum was going to kill his dog.

It's barely bigger than a guinea pig I promise you it's not going to eat your fucking husky you brain dead idiot loser. Stop being such a mindless coward.

Yeah. There's a whole genre of conservative-aimed television over here, faux-documentary shows about ~mountainmen~ and other such nonsense, that's pretty much dedicated to making its audience hyperventilate about predators. There's like 16 people who own 80% of Wyoming and the Dakotas, and the amount of money they've put in to trying to relegalize wolf-extermination because "they're a danger to cattle" is absurd.

It's so frustrating seeing hunters fight against predator reintroduction because "hunters with rifles can kill more deer than wolves/lynx can"

Even if that's true, predators like wolves do so much more than just killing deer. Their mere presence completely changes the behaviour of deer. Instead of hanging around one area and overgrazing it, deer herds have to stay constantly on the move to try and avoid wolf packs. This spreads their grazing over much wider areas and significantly reduces the amount of damage they can do.

Hunters also only target adult deer, often going for the big trophy bucks. Predators like wolves and lynx don't just hunt adult deer but also kill a lot of fawns, as well as does. This has a much bigger impact on controlling deer populations than killing adult bucks. Predators also tend to target the old, sick and weak, which helps keep deer herds healthy. The remains of wolf kills also provide an important food source for scavengers, and when the bodies rot it nourishes the soil and massively benefits the whole ecosystem.

Humans can certainly play a role in deer control, but they'll never be as effective as native wild predators.

also worth noting that hunting is becoming less and less accessible for people as it requires a not insignificant time commitment and some people just can't make room for it in their lives as a hobby any more

so many people are just totally ignorant about predators and their importance in the ecosystem, even those that SHOULD know better

I can't stop thinking about how much mole skeletons remind me of whale skeletons.

We're all familiar with Space Whales but nobody ever talks about Space Moles. Or Desert Whales. Or Giant Ocean Moles. And that's terrible.

What is a Mole, if not a Tiny Dirt Whale? they’re really rather like sperm whales, hunting invertabrates by thier vibrations in total darkness.

Or perhaps a Whale is a very Large Water Mole, with it’s vibration-sensitive organs behind a vibration-amplifying balloon?  

The only real difference I can think of between them is that moles don’t have a built-in sonic weapon to the best of my knowledge.

Considering some moles can swim I expect it will not be very long before they become very large and start using echolocation.

YES

MASSIVE CLAWED WHALE

NASAL TENTACLES AS LONG AS A MAN

GIANT SQUID COMMENTS: “the Sperm whales were bad but this is just fucking offensive.”

time to dig (hehe) out some of my favorite skeleton comparisons!

european mole!

stellar sea lion!

the mole is clearly just a tiny dirt sea lion. when you are a predator who paddles after your prey, you just get tubed shaped. with great biceps.