The Pub Discussion Board

Net Wolf wrote:

Those people ARE STILL COPS.

And the people who do what you suggest aren't even CLOSE to being good cops. 
Net Wolf

Yes and there also cops who are in the public eye, are cops via an election or appointment, Know if they try to play hardball and stick to "It was a WereWolf" as a theory will get sacrificed to the press/public as a crackpot

Its hard to be a good cop when you could lose your job following Sherlock Holmes' Law - After eliminating the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, is the truth

No one wants to believe in the fantastical anymore because the masses want to feel same in there little lives If some one Proved Indisputably the existence of monsters aliens and ghosts the public would wig the FUCK out.

And don't tell me they wouldn't. Remember War of the Worlds

Corvis wrote:

Hello, all


As to the IR triggered cameras... wow, I never thought of that.  But then, I'm no hunter and my knowledge of hunting goes back to my childhood, you know, the era of flintlocks.  Now, the police might not rush to show footage of a dinosaur-like creature, or pack of dinosaur-like creatures to the media, but one of the technologically savy hunters might.  Or at least I'd think so.

Greetings

Try Cabela, serious gun hunting porm...

Scouting Game Camera

Like I said after the Bloodhounds, helicopters and hunting parties go out searching for the killer, the animal story going to be in play "Big Time" 

I'd also assume the local University and/or Science Museum (or vet) gets a call when the evidence exceeds the knowledge of investigators -- like that strange animal track.

By the time this played out the Governor be calling out the National Guard to join the hunt...

...Bradleys and Humvees and Abrams, oh my!!!

Enjoy the journey

WarLord

Greetings

"Close Encounters of the Third Kind" was on TCM last night, amazing how well its held up but it raises a suggestion for this narrative.  François Truffaut played a French scientific type who was at the heart of the action as well as remaining outside acting as an observer for us.

Theres something to be said for the story being told by such a voice ie Zoology Prof, Vet, professional hunter, etc someone not "too" inside the investigation but close enough to be our ummm eyes.

Just a thought

Enjoy the journey

WarLord

Hello, all. 

Hmm... The National Guard?  The Virginia National Guard doesn't have any M1 tanks, since they are light infantry, but I'm not sure how helpful a M1 would be in hunting a dangerous animal, unless it was Godzilla.  I guess they could send infantry to hunt for the dinosaur-like animals.  Somehow, regardless of what the Jurassic Park movies might say, I don't see a pack of raptor-type dinosaurs fairing too well against organized hunting parties, National Guard or no National Guard.   If the didn't fear humans, I'd think that they'd end up dead even quicker.  Only a fool brings a foot claw to a gunfight

Hello, all

Okay, I can see how being inside a tank or an IFV would make dinosaur attacks utterly futile.  This is a little off subject, since my question was about how the authorites, in the form of a competent police force, would respond, not all the creatures would respond to that response, however, here are some points that have occured to me.  If I made a logic error, please don't hesitate to let me know. 

1. While the raptor-like animals in example one have little or no fear of humans, hence the farmhouse attack, wouldn't something as unusual, fast, powerful and huge as an IVF or MBT be another matter?  Wouldn't any reasonably smart predator avoid the big armored things that smell of petroleum products and smash saplings as they roar across the landscape? 

2. The only creatures that I know of to use wave attacks to overcome an enemy are social insects, like ants and bees, and humans.  Most social animals can't afford to have such a cavalier attitude as "We'll throw bodies at them until they run out of bullets".  I would think that a more likely attack pattern would be closer to what modern social predators use, which seem to be variations of ambush and pick off the straggler.  In the case of obviously dangerous targets, like elephants, they usually don't attack at all. 

3. The helicopters and scout planes sound like a great idea.  Even in rural areas, it's hard to to not look up and see at least one aircraft in a day.  So, the raptor-like animals would probably have become accustomed to aircraft and might not realize that they posed a threat until it was too late.

1. Birds attack in waves, yes, but they do not sacrifice themselves as your scenario suggested.  That is, they do not "throw bodies at the problem".  They attack, then RETREAT, to let someone else attack.  Your original scenario had the raptors attacking endlessly despite multiple repeated deaths.  This is unlikely behavior for any vertebrate species.

2. There is no indication that theropods "flocked".  In fact, the term that is almost universally used for their groups is "pack".  While there is no clear indication of behavior, I would suggest that "flocking" is a very poor hunting technique - it would pretty much scare off your prey before you ever got there (flocks are NOISY...), and it is too chaotic to produce reliable results.  Also, what you call "flocking", normally called "mobbing behavior", is an anti-predator technique, not designed for hunting prey at all.  It is also generally used to protect nesting sites and offspring.  Even in modern mobbing behavior, it is NOT common for the birds to be harmed (though it is a risk).  So, unless you just happen to catch them in the presence of their young, they are unlikely to keep charging in the fashion you suggest.  They are much more likely just to leave.

3. Even utahraptor, the largest of the dromaeasaurids, would be felled with a single shot. (in the right place, of course... shooting him in the foot ain't gonna kill him, obviously)  A hunting party of several dozen men is not likely to be outnumbered, and certainly is not "outgunned", so to speak.

4. I doubt that our dino would BE the biggest predator, though it depends how you define "biggest".  Most animals define size based on vertical height alone - hence one of the main reasons bears rear up on their hind legs to scare the bejeezus out of things.  For height, a standing bear is bigger than a utahraptor.  Also, taking in our scenario, the animal (or animals) attacked chickens... an unlikely target for an animal as large as 1500-pound utahraptor unless he was starving... but a much better meal for 160-pound deinonychus, a much smaller dinosaur that would still be dangerous to humans, or perhaps 130-pound troodon, which is even smaller than deinonychus, but more intelligent and still dangerous to humans.

5. What predator do you know of that turns TOWARD loud noises?  Even wolves get run off by gunshots.  Your scenario that, "The farmer shot at them, thus becoming dinner" is rather insane.  Predators go for the WEAKEST animal.  Something that has a big honkin' noise-making stick is almost certainly not going to be considered the weakest animal.

I would humbly suggest that your hunting party has absolutely nothing to fear, except not finding their target.  These are not tigers; they don't have the intellect to pull off a Jurassic-Puke-style raptor hunting party.  They would probably see such a group and (wisely) slip away unseen.  Predator does not equal unstoppable killing machine, nor does it equal mindless killing machine.  Predators kill when a) they're cornered, or b) the threat-to-hunger ratio is low enough.  (That is, the hungrier they are, the more threat they're willing to put up with.  If they're not hungry at all, they're not going to kill for food.)  If this animal has just eaten a cow, he's probably not all that hungry, and isn't even going to want to take on armed humans making all sorts of noise in the forest.

Oh, and has anyone considered the fact that PETA and the Sierra Club would instantly be up in arms about you sending the National Guard, of all things, after an animal?  (Hey, you guys were the ones to bring politics into this...)

Net Wolf

Don't give them any ideas!!!

Net Wolf

you know after thinking about it the polices first responce to an attack that apears to be an animal (even if the evedence seems odd) would be to call animal control

Net Wolf wrote:

3. Even utahraptor, the largest of the dromaeasaurids, would be felled with a single shot. (in the right place, of course... shooting him in the foot ain't gonna kill him, obviously)  A hunting party of several dozen men is not likely to be outnumbered, and certainly is not "outgunned", so to speak.

A hunting party of a dozen is an oxymoron unless your intent is to act as beaters to others in tree stands.  Brain as big as a walnut, and odd layout of organs NOPE One Shot Kills are not a given! 

Wound it and its does what?  We got no track record because nobody gut shot one before    Nope a chumps game unless you're good and lucky and in a treee be a good choice

Oh, and has anyone considered the fact that PETA and the Sierra Club would instantly be up in arms about you sending the National Guard, of all things, after an animal?  (Hey, you guys were the ones to bring politics into this...)Net Wolf

You think the GOV intent on the FARM vote by protecting farmer family from an unknown killer danger gonna be giving a fuck about PETA, when all he has to do is send in some NG to show umm macho leadership

Nope the GOV gonna send it all!

Enjoy the journey

WarLord

Net Wolf wrote:

1. Birds attack in waves, yes, but they do not sacrifice themselves as your scenario suggested.  That is, they do not "throw bodies at the problem".  They attack, then RETREAT, to let someone else attack.  Your original scenario had the raptors attacking endlessly despite multiple repeated deaths.  This is unlikely behavior for any vertebrate species.
Net Wolf

Greetings

Sharks do it all the time!  Feeding frenzy triggered by scent/pheromones. 

Bees guarding a hive have their stinging attacks intensified by a scent released into the air as the poison sac jerks from the guard bees body.  Each stinger stuck to the target then adds to the ambient scent increasing the attacks until the intruder leaves the hive area or dies...

It seems not a huge stretch that scent might well trigger feeding frenzy in the raptor. Raptors might scent blood as the shark does and react accordingly

Thus killing a raptor increases the attacks intensity not decreases.  We have not established that a raptor is so fussy as to pass on a meal of raptor meat...

Enjoy the journey

WarLord

Warlord... just curious, but why is the grammatical structure of your second-to-last post so far removed from what your normal grammar is, and in fact, what your last post shows?

I've given up trying to convince you that dinosaurs were animals, and not Hollywood monsters, so I'm bowing out of this discussion.  And please, do not read my story, Where the Maiasaurs Roam.  I wouldn't want you to be disappointed at the amazingly animal-like behaviors of my dinosaurs.

Net Wolf

They would be obliged to try to find him or her in order to make sure they were okay.  It's not a matter of them being under suspicion, but rather as a matter of his or her safety and welfare.

Net Wolf

hehe i thought of an idea, ancient alian craft seeded the world with dinos, 10 billion years ago as an experimet. they come back find thie experiment wiped out and restart it landing hundreds of thousands of dinosaurse in the oceans and on the lands. they dont care about humans because we are destroyingthe world and before they leave they detonate an emp burst in orbit destroying all modern eletronics (or not, they just dump them to see what happens)

can you saw feast :>

mon