Just in case some folks don’t know… some breeds are designed for this. My buddy’s Pyrenees will do anything to stay outside in the snow and not come in as often as possible.

I dont think there’s anything wrong with not wanting to rent, though. My dream is to have enough land to have livestock and to be able to plant what I want when I want in my garden. I believe humans are happier living together in groups/with family, but it’s also important to have a little thing to call your own even if its shared, I think.

Sometimes the lining of their stomach is too irritated to stop throwing up. Strong anti nausea meds, a look around via Xray or otherwise to make sure there isn’t anything that needs to be surgically removed, and tons of intravenous fluids can fix them right up. Scary and costly, but Callie will likely be ok. Sending good vibes to yall!

I dont think the debate is over whether you have to leave the garbage to do this hike; I think the argument is that because you HAVE to do that, this expedition should either be closed or more highly regulated. The amount of trash and bodies will just slowly accumulate, and it’s weird in today’s world of high tech gear to even claim summiting as a badge of honor. Sure it’s cool… but you have nothing on the folks that did it with limited knowledge and questionable gear in the early days.

Id like to sneak in and offer an opposing argument here. I see what you are saying, but imagine if someone said poachers in Africa depend on the revenue from selling illegal wildlife goods. The idea is that even if its a reality now, it really isn’t a good one, and if they COULD work away from it, it’d likely be better overall.

To ruin the fun… I’ve repeatedly read that chameleons are ridiculously easy to stress. Like, even handling them too much is discouraged because of it. If the chameleon is seriously going around biting people, I doubt it’s in super great shape. But idk how serious the stress thing really is.

Sometimes the reason said isn’t the real reason. If this is true, I hope he has some recourse. If not, I hope the truth comes out.

I’d do it, but retiring early = doing my hobbies instead. Long days writing books, making art, volunteering, and pet sitting. Retiring would just mean working the jobs I want instead of the ones I have to.

I think that’s being a bit obtuse. It’s obvious that “natural” in this context means not cut short by slaughter/disease/etc. The natural lifespan of the human being is what could be said to mean how long a human lives if an early death doesn’t take them. Moreover, that range can include the tribal human living without processed food or electricity or the sheltered city dweller living safely alongside their McDonald’s.

Define artificial assistance? If you mean human care like feed and safety, then I fail to see how that is relevant. It’s similar to asking if I have data on Boston terrier lifespan without human assistance in the wild. We created these breeds.

The lifespans I gave are lifespans with care (feed, shelter) given in the case of the domesticated species. Im very interested in why you think data on domesticated species living in the wild is relevant, but if you are interested in the hardness of domesticated species, there is an interesting case of a cow escaping the slaughterhouse in Poland to live with a herd of wild bison. No idea what ended up happening, but it caused quite a stir that she survived winter just fine.

Coworker has a cow/calf pair. The cow and calf do get separated in the morning, but after milking they are turned out together on pasture for the rest of the day. Of course, most folks aren’t lucky enough to have the space or means (or desire) to raise their own food the way they want. I have friends who love milk but cant stand the sight of an udder… funny. In their words, it is “better not to think about it.” Wild. My dream has always been to have a homestead, so I cant imagine the thinking…

Some numbers for relevance:

American bison lifespan is 10-20 years, african buffalo is 10-25, Indian water buffalo averages 25 years, and guar are around the same.

Now let’s look at some heritage breeds of domestic cow:

White park cattle are not unheard of to live around 30 years, highland cattle 15-20, Dexters around the same.

Edit: I forgot the dairy cows… holstein 15-20, jersey around the same, friesian around the same.

It is in the nature of cattle to live at least into their teens. Dairy cattle are treated terribly and bred to overproduce, but they are killed when production drops. A good bull, on the other hand, can be kept around for longer, but most dairies do ai now so they dont even have to have a dangerous bull on site.

As an aside, the entire thing is similar to production hens. A production hen’s system gives out early (usually due to reproductive issues or cancer) due to being designed to lay an egg a day regardless of anything else. There is a reason family farms who want pets generally avoid the high production ladies if they value health over production.

I really enjoyed this answer. I have definitely noticed a more positive spin on having children from my non American or well traveled friends, and this reminded me of their views.