OldCoaly wrote on Oct 17
th, 2015 at 11:51am:
Eating only the stupid is not a long term self sustaining strategy.
Eventually you end up having trained yourself to only pursue stupid and are unable to survive once no more stupid remain.
A responsible predator wouldn't constrain their hunt to only low-hanging fruit, but will make sure to keep their skills sharp by occasionally tackling things that slackers say are "too hard".
It's good that "almost all the people in Dropbear's gut are stupid" and not all. Because nobody wants to atrophy their skill set to Turbine levels.
Indeed, stupid prey like people who camp under trees and tourists are the "low hanging fruit" as you describe, but they're not always in plentiful supply.
But no self respecting DropBear is going to turn down an easy meal - life's tough in the bush.
A disturbing trend and a blight on our food chain in recent years are these darn plastic augments. You're happily sitting in your gum tree and find yourself a nice buxom tourist passing below and think you're in for a hearty meal, and before you know it, you're choking on plastic bits. 😕
What is it with humans and their silicon augments. Don't they know that plastic is dangerous for animals and the the environment?
That said, when things are boring we like to amp up the challenge. Mountain bike and motor bike riders are always a challenge. Ending up in the spokes is never pleasant, nor is getting your tackle caught in a helmet visor.
And there is sometimes danger, as the occasional human has the bane of all DropBears, no not vegemite (which is just annoying), but the 12 gauge. 😡
So fear not my friends, there is no complacency, for DropBears are compelled to be finely honed predators to survive in the Aussie Outback.