Keeping things even
Once, several thousand deer and a few dozen mountain lions lived
together in a part of Arizona. Each year, the mountain lions ate
hundreds of deer. But, during the year, hundreds of new deer were born.
So there was always just about the same number of deer. And there was
always just about the same number of mountain lions.
There weren’t too many mountain lions, so they always had plenty to eat.
There weren’t too many deer, so the deer had plenty to eat. Everything
was even.
Then, the mountain lions killed some farm animals. The farmers began to
hunt the mountain lions. Soon, the mountain lions there had all been
killed.
After that, baby deer that would have been killed by mountain lions were
able to grow up. Many of them had babies. Soon, there were many more
deer than there had been when the mountain lions were eating them.
Things weren’t even any more.
Now there were so many deer that there wasn’t enough food for all of
them.
In the summer, they ate up most of the food that would have kept them
alive during the winter.
And when winter came, thousands of the deer starved to death.
Animals keep things even by living together. As long as things are even,
the animals are all right. But sometimes men change things so they’re no
longer even, and then there is trouble for the animals—and often for
people, too.
