Wild Imaginings, Fantasitcal Ecology, and indelicate subjects

[singerinthedark]

So, I was watching this old Mickey Mouse cartoon, "The Brave Little Taylor," and a thought occurred to me as the giant in the film sat on a house: Why isn't there record of people complaining about giant scat as a by-product of having giants as a pest species?

I'll give you a moment to reflect on this.

...

Still with me? Then here goes:

Just as not all coyotes will go after a flock of sheep, it may be that not all giants will ravage a town. (That could be a whole article on its own - the evolution of behavior in giants and its implication for species survival.) Giants and humans would be in direct conflict for the resource of space. Giants, being a large, humanoid species, would have to be a K-selected species (long-living, slow-growing, low reproduction rate) because the carrying capacity of any earth-like planet would be highly limited for a creature that size. So there would be few giants around, but a very large territory for each family group if social or a slightly smaller one for each if highly territorial. Now, assuming you're living in a lucky village that borders the territory of a giant or giants that *don't* harass you, you'll still have to deal with the issues of giant waste where human and giant territory overlap.

Think about it - assuming a giant has a similar metabolism to humans (and that's a HUGE assumption), the amount of waste produced would be proportional. Yeah, that's a pretty big problem. Chances are, giants being "warm-blooded" (another assumption based on visual physiology), their proportional metabolism would be even higher than your average humans - it would take more energy consumed per pound of body mass for a giant to maintain a moderately active lifestyle than it would take a human to maintain a similarly active lifestyle. All of this is contingent on the popular vision of giants being much larger than a thatched-roof house - big enough to sit on one with ease.

Anyway, back to waste pollution. If giants are of human intelligence, they might have knowledge to build a latrine, outhouse, or other such convenience. However, if it was anywhere near the town there'd be air pollution. (I won't give details or examples. I trust your own vivid imagination.)

...

This is a thin outline of a larger idea (no really, I have LOTS to say on this and related subjects in a fairly ecology-geeky way). I'm thinking of really fleshing this out, and perhaps expounding on other possible mythological, fantastical, and legendary pest species. (When you can't find a job directly related to your degree, you can always make up a hobby that does.) I'd like to get some actual sources, cite them, and make a real go of it. I don't need another project, but this one would be fun to pick up and put down on occasion.

Any suggestions on resources or places to start my research? Suggestions/requests for future articles on mythological pests? Any thoughts in general?

Comments

[lyahdan.livejournal.com]

Must work that into a game somewhere.

Given all the tales about giants sleeping for ages (mountains that are sleeping giants, sitting on a hillside and having it wake up...etc), I'm going to posit that there's evidence that they have a lower metabolism than one might expect. Or perhaps tend to cycle between active and inactive.

Long inactive periods between gathering/breeding seasons? Legends of giant dances, and some attribution of earthquakes to such activity may support that hypothesis.

In which case, you have long periods without much problem...but you *really* don't want to live near the breeding grounds. phew!

[battymaiden.livejournal.com]

Yes, but what kind of energy stores would it take to keep a warm-blooded body like that alive for ages - even given those ages are spent sleeping? Oooooh! There's plenty of research on 'hibernation" and such in bears. I'll bet I could find that information and figure out respiration rates and such. Of course, storing up for such long naps could account for the irritable behavior and the occasional village razing. Also, giant overpopulation could be what causes some giants to switch prey from forest animals to human beings...

Yeah, breeding grounds would be a WHOLE other problem. :)

[temperance14.livejournal.com]

Y'know, if he were alive (and much younger), I think Isaac Asimov would have taken you in a manly fashion.

[emilia-romagna.livejournal.com]

To be fair, he probably would have done it while he was old, too.

[ribbin.livejournal.com]

Takes a lot of cotton to build a futon of that size!

But damn, giant college towns would be a happenin' place!

[battymaiden.livejournal.com]

Speaking of breeding, since humans appear to be a sought-after delicacy amongst giant-kind, it could be that the hunting and consumption of human flesh is a nuptial gift...

[terpsichoros.livejournal.com]

Larger animals consume less food, proportional to their body weight, than smaller ones. Mice eat half their weight per day. Not even infant humans eat that much.

A giant that can sit on a human cottage has a seat-height of about 7 feet. A chair that has a seat 1.4 feet off the floor is a little low, so we can assume that giants are about 4 to 5 times as tall as humans, so we could assume somewhere up to about 27 feet tall.

[battymaiden.livejournal.com]

*head-smack* I got the size-metabolism ratio backwards. This is part of why I post these things: You all correct my mistakes and come up with even more interesting considerations.


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