Um (and that's a tentative, throat clearing "um", not a sublimated flame), an interesting bit of evolution arcana: Over the long run, it can *appear* that the coyote (for example) is preserving the pronghorn. If coyotes that consistently seek and destroy pronghorns tend to die off (for whatever reason) while coyotes that avoid eating the last pronghorn tend to live (and reproduce), the pronghorn-preserving coyotes will ultimately dominate the population (all else being equal). At no point is a coyote making a conscious decision based on future consequences, but the result can be the same...
Further trivia: Optimal foraging theory says that, in a food-limited environment, it pays to become a food generalist. In other words, if there's very little to eat, you can't be picky. That seems to be the case in Prax, which means that "they raid whatever tribes are nearby." The bison riders won't spare the rhinos just to get to those juicy sables.
BUT, optimal foraging theory also includes handling time (the time from locating a food item to the time when it is ingested and the next search can begin). In the case of the rhino riders as prey, it may take more time/effort/etc. to raid them than it would to track down those sables. (And to make it more complex, we could factor in the value of the prey- in this case, the metal weapons the sable riders have...)
One final aspect of optimal foraging theory: When two food generalists compete, reduced body size is advantagous and will be selected for by evolution. Of course, I'm not sure that this aspect of deep-sea ecology should be applied to Prax... However, if I can work it into an amusing story... [Hats off to Owen for bringing math to Prax]
Keith
Keith Suderman Department of Oceanography Florida State University Phone: (904) 644-2599 Tallahassee, Fl 32306 e-mail: suderman_at_ocean.fsu.edu ------------------------------
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