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Who would last longer in a famine

  1. Fat humanoid, not pregnant

    1 vote(s)
    50.0%
  2. Very fat humanoid, not pregnant

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  3. Muscular humanoid, not pregnant

    1 vote(s)
    50.0%
  4. Average humanoid, not pregnant

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  5. Underweight humanoid, not pregnant

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  6. Fat humanoid, pregnant

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  7. Very fat humanoid, pregnant

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  8. Muscular humanoid, pregnant

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  9. Average humanoid, pregnant

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  10. Underweight humanoid, pregnant

    0 vote(s)
    0.0%
  1. caters

    caters Active Member

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    Who would last longer in a famine

    Discussion in 'Research' started by caters, Mar 18, 2018.

    I am asking because my Kepler Bb people either migrate or stay put in a famine, really depends on the length of it. If it is only a few months, they will stay put. If it is closer to a year though, they will migrate, taking any seeds from their plants with them.

    I think fat, non-pregnant humanoids will last longer than anybody else and that the fatter they are, the longer they will last due to ketosis. But I want to know your opinion on it. I know children will last shorter than adults due to higher metabolism needed for growth and higher risk of being attacked by wild animals.
     
  2. izzybot

    izzybot (unspecified) Contributor

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    Seems like something you should research, not ask for writers' opinions on.
     
  3. GlitterRain7

    GlitterRain7 Galaxy Girl Contributor

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    I don't know the specifics of your story, but if it's some sort of survival thing, with things other then famine happening (think the walking dead), I feel like there would be not a lot of difference between a healthy person and an overweight person. Overweight people are going to have a harder time running away from wild animals or hiding in cramped areas. So, while they might be a little better off food-wise, they would lack in other aspects.
    But, once again, I don't know the specifics of your story.
     
  4. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    There isn't nearly enough information to answer.

    At first I thought you meant, who would survive long enough just sitting still with zero food. But if you're introducing migration and wild animals, then there are no doubt dozens of other relevant factors.

    I was going to at least say that the pregnant have the lowest odds of survival, but if we're adding social behavior, maybe the others would feed and protect the pregnant ones.

    So, it's really impossible to answer.
     
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  5. caters

    caters Active Member

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    So I basically need to know not only the general health of people who are overweight, underweight, obese, average, and muscular, and how pregnancy affects the health of people, but also all of these:

    • Social behavior
    • Risk of confusing poisonous plants and fungi for edible ones
    • Whether any edible plants and fungi are toxic at a dose that would satisfy hunger
    • Reactions between foods when being digested
    • Bodily defense against poison
    • Risk of getting allergic to a given allergen
    • Risk of getting anaphylaxis if allergic
    • What predators hunt in packs
    • What predators hunt alone
    • Whether my people kill predators for meat at all and if so which predators
    • Weaponry of my people
    • Average distance migrated
    • What predators have an affinity for in terms of humanoids besides the young
    • How my people defend themselves from predators
    • Which defenses work for which predators
    • Risk of getting a venomous bite or sting
    • Whether any venomous bites or stings are deadly without allergy
    • Bodily defense against venom
    • Walking speed
    • Running speed
    • Swimming speed
    • Climbing speed
    • How they live normally(Underground? In the trees? On the ground? Combination?)
    • Any domestic animals they have and how they defend against predators
    • Risk of zoonotic disease(pathogen spreading from animal to humanoid)
    • Which animals are disease carriers
    • If any of those diseases are deadly
    • Other diseases and if they are deadly
     
    Last edited: Mar 18, 2018
  6. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    Are you saying that you want us to tell you these things? These things are all yours to decide.
     
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  7. Cave Troll

    Cave Troll It's Coffee O'clock everywhere. Contributor

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    Well that all boils down to what your basing your species off of.
    A healthy adult human can last about a month (provided they
    get at least water), before they starve to death. Have no idea
    how long a fatter person would last, but it would rely on just
    how much extra adipose tissue they happen to have accumulated.
    When the fat runs out, the body will start eating the musculature
    tissues, followed by the organs to keep alive. But it is a slow and
    painful way to go.

    https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-long-can-a-person-sur/

    And without water, about 2-3 days.
     
  8. caters

    caters Active Member

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    No I'm not saying that I want you to tell me those things. I am just saying that I would have to know all those things in order to know who is most likely to survive and by how much.
     
  9. ChickenFreak

    ChickenFreak Contributor Contributor

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    Well, in theory, yes--for example, if you were writing a video game life simulator, or something of the sort. But I think that it makes much more sense to just write a story, accept that it may not achieve absolute biological accuracy, and when the biological accuracy is obviously wildly off, make some changes. For example, if you conclude that your main character won't realistically survive the famine that you have in mind, you can change the famine.

    Pregnancy consumes resources. So pregnant people are likely to cope with any sort of stress or deprivation or danger less well than the average non-pregnant person. I think that you can just take that as a given. If you're going to have a ton of people dying of starvation, and you want a pregnant person to survive, then you'll have to do something. Maybe the pregnant person's family has a cache of food. (Precedent: The Long Winter, by Laura Ingalls Wilder.) Maybe the culture puts a very high priority on protecting pregnant people.

    Write story.
     
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  10. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    What chicken said - you are massively over thinking this - you don't need to know all that stuff to write a story and your reader definitely doesn't want to know it.

    Also in every crit thread you've posted you've responded to crit that it is unrealistic by saying that your keplerians aren't like people because "that not how it works for this species" ... so you therefore don't need to know any of the above since "that's not how it works for this species" - just make up whatever you want so long as its consistent.

    So if you want very fat keplerians to last the longest - then just write that

    (personally I'd say the flip side is that the morbidly obese won't be able to defend themselves effectively when the healthy but desperate individuals turn to canabalism / might get left behind during a migration and be unable to defend themselves against predators. )
     
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  11. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    I would be the first Keplerian to die. Not from the actual famine, but because I don't deal with hunger very well. My hangriness would very quickly invoke a situation where two or three members of the Kepler humanoids form a plan to take me out. *shrug* Them's the breaks.
     
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  12. big soft moose

    big soft moose An Admoostrator Admin Staff Supporter Contributor Community Volunteer

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    and having killed you they would then BBQ you and feast on your corpse :D
     
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  13. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    I wonder if they have something equivalent to sage or thyme on Keplar.... :whistle:
     

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