My talk today went surprisingly well. I had organized my results based on historical tests for sentience, and what they meant for Tanzen research. The answers were all negative or inconclusive, which I tried to make as interesting as possible. The Q & A went an hour longer than scheduled and I received genuine applause at the end.
I was pretty happy. After lunch, the bomb dropped.
Jalyn and Mori presented paleontological evidence for a mass extinction in the range of 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. A mass extinction of apex predators like the Luplakisaur and 5 to 7 other species. The uncertainty came from the fact that some of the remains were too incomplete to conclude that they were unique species despite morphological differences. Any biology that produces mutts plays havoc with normal clade boundaries.
Still, at least six, and up to eight, major apex predators were driven to extinction in a relatively short period, and not correlated with any obvious climatic or environmental shifts. That's kind of spooky. Apparently there is now serious discussion of what was once jokingly called the "Walkran Hypothesis."
As I had put it: Tanzen killed them. But I was imagining perhaps millions of years, not ten thousand.
My head was reeling. What had we uncovered here? A planet wide extinction event possibly related to the "dominant animal form" which had, by that point, invaded every available ecosystem. No wonder the team had kept their results under wraps while they confirmed them. Who would want to get this one wrong?
I kept my head during the debate that followed, and was careful to clarify only what was known about Tanzen and their behavior. But I was thinking: if the Tanzen engaged in a systematic effort to eradicate existential threats what does that say about them? It seems like a strong argument for planning, cooperation and foresight, and in turn would argue for sentience.
Jalyn had a theory, but she left it to Evo -- my opposite number in ethology -- to elucidate for the unruly crowd. "It's well known," Evo said in raised voice over the muttering, "that prey animals will act conspicuously bold in the presence of predators for sexual purposes." That shut down the discussion. "A male that can taunt a predator and live is more likely to mate."
This is actually true. Although there are interesting exceptions it does seem to be close to a universal pattern -- the male says "Hey, watch me as I toy with this threat of death!" Then the female says "Wow, you lived. You're better than other males, so I allow you to mate with me." I think it helps explains why some humans act like jerks.
"This behavior," she went on, "taken to an extreme level by some kind of positive feedback loop could explain extinction of Tanzen predators by Tanzen hunters."
More murmering. "Of course you realize what you're saying." Gregol's voice always booms, even when he's trying to be quietly dramatic. "Jinyong wasn't killed by accident. They recognize us as predators. He was hunted."
I hardly noticed the ensuing clamor. I was dumbstruck by the other implication of the theory, the part that had been nearly glossed over. What kind of feedback loop could amplify a rare and often suicidal act into a planetwide craze? Since the timeframe was way too short for sexual selection, and the only other plausible mechanism would require cultural transmission -- the movement of an idea from one Tanzen mind to another by some unknown mechanism, an idea powerful enough to override the individual's own instinct for self-preservation.
There's only one type of creature with a culture that powerful. We're one example. The Tanzen must be another.