Re-reading the novel after viewing Persuasion (2022), I was partly focused on finding the kind of comedy that Cracknell's adaptation foregrounds, which verges on slapstick at different moments, especially when Anne is involved. Anne's humor in the novel remains in the familiar realm of the satirical. But this scene with Charles Musgrove, Mary, and Anne is one of the few moments where it's possible to see some silliness in the narrative. The image of Charles chasing after this small animal to disengage himself from Mary's complaints is charming and makes him look quite silly: he is disarmed by her tenacious complaining and rather than endure them prefers to run after a small animal. The humor is turned against the couple, not at all an exemplar of marital respect. These two spouses might be found bickering but they are also conflict-averse, unable to enter into honest dialogue. The movie is inclined to giving Mary the upper hand. In the novel, Charles' possibly threatening masculinity is suggested through his persona as an avid sportsman. Hunting for weasels was not silly in and of itself at the time. These small and slender creatures had (and still do) a reputation for being ferocious predators. Thomas Bewick, who Austen would have known, describes them as follows in his A General History of Quadrupeds (1790): "The Weasel is very common, and well known in most parts of this country; is very destructive to young birds, poultry, rabbits, &c.; and is a keen devourer of eggs, which it sucks with great avidity" (219).

As per the last comment above, Tel Aviv researchers surmise that the progressive extirpation of all the large prey fauna over the course of 1.5 million years forced society in the Southern Levant to innovate agriculture as a means of survival. Our early ancestors did not have accurate records that could reveal the trend of resource depletion so continued short term resource depletion in each of their respective lifetimes.

Anthropology and Archelogy findings support the idea that humans began laying progress traps as early as two million years ago. Our great success at socialization and communication that harnessed the power of collaboration resulted in wiping out entire species upon which we depended. Short term success leading to long term failure is a central pattern of progress traps.

Anthropology and Archelogy findings support the idea that humans began laying progress traps as early as two million years ago. Our great success at socialization and communication that harnessed the power of collaboration resulted in wiping out entire species upon which we depended. Short term success leading to long term failure is a central pattern of progress traps.

A remarkable paper from Tel Aviv researchers studying early hunters in the Southern Levant as early as 1.5 million years ago revealed that our ancestors in this part of the world were poor resource managers and over many generations, continually hunted large game to extinction, forcing descendants to hunt progressively smaller game.

Annotation of the 2021 source paper is here: https://hyp.is/go?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedirect.com%2Fscience%2Farticle%2Fabs%2Fpii%2FS0277379121005230&group=world Annotation of a science news interview with the researchers here: https://hyp.is/go?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sciencedaily.com%2Freleases%2F2021%2F12%2F211221102708.htm&group=world

The researchers even surmise that the extinction of game animals by around 10,000 B.C. is what gave rise to agriculture itself!

Progression of body mass over the last 1.5 million years in the Southern Levant: 1) Up to 500,000 years ago 1/3 of bones left behind at Homo Erectus sites belonged to 13 ton elephants that provided 90% of the food. Mean weight of all hunted animals at the time was 3 tons 2) Up to 400,000 years ago, early Neandertals and Homo Sapiens only hunted mainly deer and animals like wild cattle and horse that weighed no more than 1 ton. 3) From 50,000 to 10,000 years ago, 70^ of bones at modern human sites belonged to gazelles weighing between 20 and 30 kg, as well as fallow deer and hares and turtles.

This is a fascinating claim with far reaching consequences for modern humans dealing with the Anthropocene polycrisis.

Technological development seems to have been related to our resource overshoot. As we extirpated the larger prey fauna which were slower moving and able to be successfully hunted with crude weapons, our ancestors were forced to hunt smaller and more agile species, requiring better hunting technologies.

Agriculture could have been the only option left to our ancestors when there was insufficient species left to support society. This is the most salient sentence:

"we confirmed the hypothesis that the extinction of large animals was caused by humans -- who time and time again destroyed their own livelihood through overhunting. We may therefore conclude that humans have always ravaged their environment but were usually clever enough to find solutions for the problems they had created"

This is a disturbing finding as technology has allowed humanity to be the apex species of the planet and we are now depleting resources not on a local scale, but a global one. There is no planet B to move to once we have decimated the environment globally.

Have we progressed ourselves into a corner? Are we able to culturally pivot and correct such an entrenched cultural behavior of resource mismanagement?

This paper suggests our collective propensity for resource overshoot is an ancient cultural trait, not something new.

Davis, E., Castaneda, M., Crudge, B., Lim, T., Roth, V., Glikman, J. A., & Cao, T. (2022). The impact of COVID-19 on hunters in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos: A qualitative analysis. SocArXiv. https://doi.org/10.31235/osf.io/ekyu5

Stalking Cat has experienced behavioral changes in the vein of no longer drinkin' and druggin', heightened empathy, and reacting to certain things in different ways. By no longer denying these feelings, it's been easier to deal with different situations.

Reacts to things in a more "natural cat" way than anything else. Very cat-like in actions. (Lynx -> Tiger for e-mail address.)-> general feline affinity, but focus on tiger because it's the largest non-extinct cat on this continent.

Feline affinity is more great with big cats than smaller, domestic cats. (Primal nature? Bow hunting (Indian tradition) deer. Mutual respect with cats, 10' near bobcat, 25' near mountain lion, leaves when known hunting territory for another animal.) If you're not bow-hunting, and using a gun, you don't deserve that kill, basically. Gun hunting separates people from the experience of hunting. Stalking Cat is very much a cat in hunting & associated mannerisms.

because of an increase in long term agriculture, men spending fall and winter hunting is not necessary, but done almost out of habit according to Ayer

to keep the Natives in his area, Ely bought them fishing and hunting supplies, to be repaid through labor and game

The Kendall Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary is 600 square kilometers of land located in the Mackenzie Delta, bordering the Beaufort Sea. The topography of the sanctuary is beaches with open water, tundra lowlands, and freshwater lakes. The sanctuary was started in 1961 as a home for Lesser Snow Geese. Now, the sanctuary houses over 100 bird species including Lesser Snow Geese, White-fronted Geese, Black Brants, Canada Geese, Tundra Swans, and other songbirds, shorebirds, and waterfowl. Lesser Snow Goose reside on small islands in the northwest section of the sanctuary, while Greater White-fronted Geese, Black Brants, Tundra Swans, Sandhill Cranes, and dabbling ducks roam throughout the entire sanctuary. Some endangered shorebirds, such as Hudsonian Godwits and Long-billed Dowitchers nest in and migrate through the sanctuary. The sanctuary serves as a place of protection for migratory birds and their offspring; however, permits to enter Kendall Island Migratory bird Sanctuary can be obtained. Inuvialuit have the right to access the land without permit for the sole reason of subsistence hunting. No other person or group is permitted to hunt or capture migratory birds, their eggs, or their offspring without specific permission by Environment and Climate Change Canada. Destroying or removing the nest of a migratory bird is also prohibited under the Migratory Bird Sanctuary Regulations. The sanctuary is managed and owned by the Canadian Wildlife Service-Prairie and Northern Region. The Kendall Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary serves to house and protect over 400,000 birds and their offspring in order to address detrimental climate change and environmental effects that have already affected Kendall Island as a whole (Government of Canada 2016).

Source: Government of Canada. "Environment and Climate Change Canada - Nature - Kendall Island Migratory Bird Sanctuary." Government of Canada, Environment and Climate Change Canada. April 25, 2016. Accessed March 05, 2017. https://www.ec.gc.ca/ap-pa/default.asp?lang=En&n=A885ADAF-1.

"A wild bird, or (usually) wild birds collectively; chiefly applied to those caught for food, game birds (now esp. of the duck and goose kinds)" (OED).