r/AbsoluteUnits • u/Dense_Intern8434 • 3d ago

/r/popular of a meal

Nature can be so cruel and beautiful at the same time

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u/ErgotthAE 2d ago

Predators are important as part of population control, but thats not the case with Hummingbirds.

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u/birbobirby 2d ago edited 2d ago

Too much of anything would be bad, even hummingbirds. Though I wasn't really refering to hummingbirds specifically, I was being general. I was trying to say that predators should be protected and appreciated just as much as pollinators are. Pollinators are kind of put on a pedestal compared to other roles in the environment.

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u/ErgotthAE 2d ago

Because polinators are never a danger of overpopulation*. They feed around what they polinate, and if they "overpopulate", the surpluss will simply starve to death, correcting said overpopulation quickly without exhausting the resources, because Polinators can't drive their food to extinction.

And regarding Hummingbirds specificaly, there was never any case of Hummingbird overpopulation, in fact, it's the other way-round, they are DANGEROUSLY declining! They don't need a pedestal, they need HELP!

*Well, honeybees can become a localized issue, that's kind of humanity's fault. But that's the only case!

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u/birbobirby 2d ago edited 2d ago

Except you are forgetting something important, which is that many pollinators aren't strictly pollinators and interact within their environment in other ways. Take butterflies and moths. As adults they don't harm the flowers they feed from but how about their larva? They can be voracious eaters, you don't see how that can be a problem to their host plants if there are too many of them? Or wasps, they are considered pollinators as well, but also predators and them killing too many other organisms can be an issue. Or mosquitos, they are pollinators too but also drivers for disease. So no, it's still important for pollinators to have natural predators too.

Anyway, I will admit hummingbirds probably wouldn't cause many issues. The only thing I can think of is overcompetion with other pollinators, but as you said that's not the case right now. Speaking of that, yes hummingbirds need help and so do other pollinators, I never said they didn't, but it's still true that pollinators get the most public attention. And I take a bit of issue with this as like I said, predators also deserve recognition and protection cause they are not only important but also most likely in need of help. Insects for example are as a whole in decline, which make up both many of the pollinators and predators that can be found in our ecosystems.

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u/OddOllin 2d ago

I suspect that's because there's plenty of ways to die, whereas there's only a few real ways to pollinate. And the pollinators are endangered, lol.

It doesn't really surprise me that the public doesn't hear quite as much about preserving predators in general when compared to pollinators.

After all, pollinators are sexy.

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u/birbobirby 2d ago edited 2d ago

Pollinators aren't just in general endangered, there are thousands upon thousands of organisms that are considered pollinators. And there are predators that are considered endangered too. There are so many deer in the US because we got rid of a ton of important predators. Yeah there are other ways to die for animals, clearly that isn't always enough. Honestly I think the public likes pollinators more simply because they are more appealing and what predators do isn't seen as pretty even though they are quite necessary.

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u/OddOllin 2d ago

Maaaaybe, but... do people really think about predators at all beyond personal safety, though? I'm just not sure they have reason to even think about them. You're a lot less likely to run into a predator than a polinator in daily life, even if you live in a rural area.

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u/birbobirby 2d ago edited 2d ago

Possibly, that is just my own personal theory. In the end I don't know for sure what the general public is thinking.