Hi r/Ornithology, I am planning to write a paper on the Emu Wars which took place in Western Australia in 1932.
I have found a fair amount of research papers related to the subject, but am unable to find a book and have come to the conclusion that there is no stand-alone book on the wars. But they must be mentioned as a section of a book.
Therefore, I would greatly appreciate pointers to where I can find information about the subject.
Thanks a ton!
I make pens and want to make one for my desk with a Great Emu War theme. Does anyone have any ideas for a laser friendly picture or text that is small enough to fit on a pen? Looking for something that won't violate copyright laws.
Ok let's start from the top:
Emus are very big, flightless birdsΒ primarily found in Australia. With heights that average no less than 5.7 feet (1.75 meters), emus are the second-largest living birds.
https://preview.redd.it/v1hl6bc47l581.png?width=650&format=png&auto=webp&s=8563bdc49333537d76ac3f87400567b2df34d6db
Emus were a protected native species in Australia, but then they started to wreak havoc on crops; they came in huge numbers like a 1% Motorcycle Club rally and ravaging farmersβ crops, destroying their livelihood. By 1932, tens of thousands had migrated to the newly cultivated lands, as resources in those areas were plentiful.
At first, the farmers, many of whom were ex-military, started shooting emus. But they couldnβt even dent the ever-growing numbers and they were losing. The army had to be called in to help.
The abject failure of the military to accomplish its objective (killing thousands of emus), combined with a lot of negative media coverage, prompted the government to pull out the military out. In the first battle, the emu guerillas emerged victorious.
The second attempt by the army, while this assault provided better results (i.e., they killed more emus this time), it was still far from a successful operation, from a logistical standpoint: It took no less than 10 bullets to bring down a single emu, so the government decided it wasnβt worth it. The army was recalled and the emus won round two, and basically the war.
It took nearly a year before hunting and lack of resources finally made the emu numbers go down and farmers felt able to continue their normal farmer lives more or less. Even so, you can still see the smug bastards making themselves at home in towns and suburbs.
Here comes another one in this series of loosely connected one-shots
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Takryl stood in the center of the classroom. "Welcome back to today's lesson of Human History Repeats. Lets start this one with a question: How many wars have humans lost?"
The room stayed silent for a moment before some of the students cautiously raised one their appendages. After being told to speak one of them answered: "I can't think of a single one Professor."
With a slight grin on his face, Takryl responded: "While that statement is most likely true, it doesn't really answer the question. But I can tell you, zero is not the right answer."
Another student was picked: "Considering the subject of this course; At least twice."
The professors grin widened: "Another true but rather unhelpful answer. Care to give a more concrete estimate?"
The student looked a bit puzzled before answering: "I don't know. About an appendage full?"
"While that is still a rather imprecise guess -ranging from 3 to 22 depending on species- it is also still quite a bit away from the true number. Humans actually lost more wars than most of the galactic species combined."
A voice from the audience chimed in: "That can't be true! Humans won every war they ever fought!"
The professor responded clearly amused: "I assure you it is. While even humans don't know the exact number of wars they lost, the best estimates put them somewhere in the low hundreds of thousands. It just so happens that any war humans lost, they lost to other humans. Every. Single. One; Except two! And while your statement is largely true, it misses one very important qualifier:"
'Humans won every war they ever fought against another sapient race!'
Another voice from the crowd asked: "But you just said... Wait are you saying humans lost two wars against animals?!?"
"I ask you again to raise your appendage before speaking, but yes that is exactly what I'm saying."
After waiting a few minutes for the mumbling to die down the Professor continued: "You're probably asking yourselves how to even start a war against animals, much less lose said war."
"Well it started with the founding of a new colony they called '
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