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cronedog t1_j9sp3pn wrote

90 species of whale, 2 elephants , 2 cows, 2 primates, 5 rhino, 2 hippos, 1 horse 48 deer but some are tiny. I don't know. Sounds reasonable.

Also is this by average weight? Minimum adult healthy weight? Some dogs are 100 lbs.

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Sharlinator t1_j9u8z9g wrote

Whew, got nerd sniped. Wikipedia is a crazy, wonderful thing.

  • The two species of gorillas are comfortably over the 100lbs limit on average, but humans, chimps (but not bonobos), and orangutans (three species) should also count if we're talking about average adult weight, remembering that males are generally quite a bit larger than females. So that's seven primates.

  • There are eight or nine extant bovine species (genera Bos and Bison), all much heavier than 100lbs, as well as six species of buffalo.

  • I think there are maybe ten species of cervids (deer) that are unambiguously over 100lbs on average, with several others that are straddling the limit.

  • 94 cetaceans, all of which over the limit except maybe the very smallest dolphin and porpoise species.

  • Four species of tapirs in addition to the five rhino and two hippos you mentioned.

  • Only one extant horse species, but eight other equines (donkeys and zebras), all weighing several hundred pounds.

  • There are 18 extant species of suids (pigs), all or at least almost all of them clearly more than 100lbs on average.

  • There are seven species of sheep, at least three or four of them over 100lbs on average.

  • Nine species of goats, most of which straddle the 100lbs figure, so let's be conservative and not include them.

  • There are 91 antelope species which makes sense given that it's a catch-all group encompassing those bovids that are not cattle, goats, or sheep. There's a huge variation in size, but I'd guesstimate that at least ten of them pass the 100lbs test.

  • Of the big cats, three (tigers, lions, and jaguars) are comfortably over the limit, with the others straddling it.

  • Eight species of bears, out of which at least four are clearly over 100lbs.

  • And finally, there are 34 extant species of pinnipeds, all of which weigh over 100lbs thanks to all the blubber!

I'm probably forgetting something but all the major groups should be accounted for.

(EDIT: forgot giraffes and the okapi, five species in total)

So that adds up to over 200 species quite easily. The 148 figure is possibly still defensible depending on the definition of "over 100lbs" used though. Also, over half of the species are aquatic or semiaquatic.

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GeriatricHydralisk t1_j9uj5yb wrote

>Also, over half of the species are aquatic or semiaquatic.

Yeah, I could see the original sentence being "148 species of terrestrial mammals", especially for a book generally focused on human history. Or "terrestrial" accidentally got lost in revisions and drafts and proofs etc.

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linuxgeekmama t1_ja98ea7 wrote

That would make sense if they were talking about animals that could be domesticated. It would be pretty hard to domesticate whales. If you did, you couldn't use them for farm work or transportation, the way you can with horses, cows, or llamas. You couldn't get wool or milk from them, like you can from sheep.

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cronedog t1_j9un0g1 wrote

You were a lot more through. I did a few off the top of my head and gave up cause it seemed like too much work

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bawng t1_j9uyrlk wrote

> Only one extant horse species

A lot of people consider Przewalski's horde a separate species, although some consider it a subspecies of the Wild Horse.

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cirrostratusfibratus t1_j9ty2ob wrote

If the use of "species" is non-scientific I could possibly see it. Like if they say "whale" counts for one instead of listing the 90+ species of cetaceans. Arteriodactyls alone have some ~350 species to them, and while some are puny most are certainly >100lbs full grown.

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