Biology Reference
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the people for the good of all people, who were essentially equal. The Founding Fathers,
particularly Hamilton, Madison, and Jefferson, drew extensively from Locke's writing about
the People in drawing up the Declaration of Independence. They believed citizens willingly
and voluntarily submitted to a government that was established by the people and in turn
subject to the people's wishes and protected the rights of the individual. The problem for
governments, and hence in the larger context civilizations, is that politics become involved and
fights break out, not only internally but also against perceived enemies. As Carl von Clauswitz
is often paraphrased as saying, war is politics by a different name, “to compel our enemy to do
our will.”
As an aside, Napoleon III's son, the Prince Imperial, was killed by Zulu spearmen in May of
1879 after the Battle Isandlwana during the Zulu wars with his famous great uncles gold seal
around his neck left untouched. The horse rail where he tied his horse before riding out on the
campaign is still at the Imperial Hotel in Pietermaritzburg. One of the pall bearers was the
Crown Prince of Sweden, Gustaf. One of Napoleon's remaining royal vestiges of rule is the
Royal Family of Sweden.
There is also some belief that Sapiens domestication of wolves to dogs about 34, 000 years
ago aided in sapiens hunting success and overcoming the Neanderthals, apart from battling
them. Indeed, a recent study in Finland showed that hunting with dogs by Sami clans conferred
a distinct advantage. Among the ancient breeds are those like dingoes and Indian wild pariah
dogs but also in Africa the Congo basenji (derived genetically from gray wolves) and the
South African Hotentot / Khoi Khoi Africanist or ridgebacks, the latter having been noted by
the Dutch settlers in the Cape in the 17 century, Livingstone in his drawings, and Selous. The
missionary in Matabeleland Charles Helm had them and these were cross - bred by the hunter
Cornelius Van Rooyen in the 1880s for hunting and become known as the Rhodesian Lion Dog
or Ridgeback dog breed. The same success with hunting with an ancient Africanist dog breed
is true of the San Bushmen and the Shangaan/Swazi hunters in the shadows of Kamhlabane. It
is because of this combined success that in many areas around the world hunting with dogs is
prohibited because of its great success. Of note, in Namibia, hunting for leopards with dogs
has been stopped not only because of the success but also due to the reduction of the leopard
population. The relationship between sapiens and dogs is a long and distinct one that is
unmatched by other cross species interactions.
All of these questions lead to the greater question of how long can our global civilization
and economy survive and deal with feeding 7 billion people, particularly as water and land
resources become more stressed to the limits, the territorial imperative for food resources and
energy increases, and disease and insects best insecticides that try to keep them at bay?
Furthermore, our crops and livestock-based food supply faces the problem of declining
biodiversity in the face of a global disease attack. What would happen if a disease like
rinderpest (now fortunately extinct) or BSE wiped out all cattle; or rift valley fever, TB, or
avian flu, all chickens and ducks; or swine flu, or a disease of grain fields destroyed all
carbohydrate sources, like the blight now also attacking Southern African mielie (corn) and
wheat fields? Of note for every dollar Chad spent on eliminating rinderpest returned $16 in
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