Nov 16, 2021 06:23 PM
When I check out the web, the most popular reason for animals herding is safety from predators. Herding doesn't exactly guarantee 100% protection but it must be better than going solo. I assume some of my ancestors followed the herd, eventually learning to become herders themselves. Does that make herding a relatively new term. Do other animals herd? Was thinking along the lines of the ant/aphid connection.
Going to add a twist. Should the practice of following prey actually be classified as herding? Lets face it, prey doesn't herd unless predators abound and for the predator there's nothing like knowing where dinner is. Are hunters following the prey considered herders? I know they can't build fences or employ people, dogs, horses to keep them from roaming free but they do maintain/guarantee the herd stays together.
I guess when we followed the herds, still do in places, that we also were hunted by the same predators who followed the herds. Do you think there was a time when we were actually herded by hunters or did we prove to be too difficult to hunt? Were we like the fox guarding the hen house, and only hunted to protect the herd numbers? Finally did our predators provide for us the impetus to develop the idea of farming livestock and thus reverse roles with the hunters?
Going to add a twist. Should the practice of following prey actually be classified as herding? Lets face it, prey doesn't herd unless predators abound and for the predator there's nothing like knowing where dinner is. Are hunters following the prey considered herders? I know they can't build fences or employ people, dogs, horses to keep them from roaming free but they do maintain/guarantee the herd stays together.
I guess when we followed the herds, still do in places, that we also were hunted by the same predators who followed the herds. Do you think there was a time when we were actually herded by hunters or did we prove to be too difficult to hunt? Were we like the fox guarding the hen house, and only hunted to protect the herd numbers? Finally did our predators provide for us the impetus to develop the idea of farming livestock and thus reverse roles with the hunters?