Recent comments in /f/history

Time_Possibility4683 t1_japlfqc wrote

David Attenborough's The Living Planet in 1984 showed humpbacks bubble-net feeding on capelin (small fish). It shows great maws rise from the ocean that nothing like a whale with its mouth shut.

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BenjaminHamnett t1_japkafb wrote

Merchants are also incentivized to exaggerate their adventures to explain why whatever they have is priced so high

Also, the world was scary af back then. There weren’t hospitals and first aide everywhere and there is just snakes and predators everywhere. Bandits etc

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check_yes_or_no t1_jap7gk2 wrote

More evidence a cultures myths were a primary means of documenting natural phenomena across generations.

It makes sense because when bound books didn’t exist (or in very small volume), articulating the precise details of a concept (such as a baleen whale that uses this hunting technique) is incredibly tedious and not very memorable. Inserting a monster-parallel into myth is a way of ensuring future generations will be able to appreciate concepts previous generations found inspirational or important to understand.

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