The Invasion Of The r-strategists

Scientists see the invasion of the rabbity body snatchers:

Europe’s population changed dramatically following the last Ice Age as the hunter-gatherers who had dominated the continent throughout the freezing period were replaced by a new dominant force.

However, the origin of the newly discovered population remains a mystery, according to the scientists who conducted DNA analysis on ancient teeth and fossils from the period.

The researchers from the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History said that it was an “unknown chapter in human history” where a new group moved in and replaced the old.

The most logical explanation is that humans migrated from warmer climates down south.

These were most likely the warm-climate r-strategists, moving up into the newly de-glaciered land, following the r-strategists prey species who moved up ahead of them and exploded in numbers.

Imagine the difference between them. Surviving glacial Europe would require a group-centric animal, capable of planning, loyal to their own, moral to avoid intra-group conflict, and willing to defer pleasure to promote advantage later. They would be designed to invest energy in robustness and capability to survive. They would be K-strategists.

Opposite them were the r-strategist inavaders, adapted to a warmer clime and easier life. Suddenly facing off with K-strategists in an r-selected world, you could see how they would naturally exhibt the exact oposite in traits, and hold their moral and decent adversary in contempt as they sought their destruction.

Of course their reign only lasts until the next imposition of harshness arrives.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.