Animal Weapons

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by Douglas J. Emlen


  25. For a fantastic and authoritative treatment of the strategic bombing campaign over Europe during WWII, including in-depth descriptions of crew experiences during bombing runs, see Donald L. Miller, Masters of the Air: America’s Bomber Boys Who Fought the Air War Against Nazi Germany (New York: Simon and Schuster, 2007).

  26. O’Connell, Of Arms and Men; O’Connell, Soul of the Sword.

  27. Ibid.

  28. Wikipedia, s.v. “List of countries by GDP (nominal)”

  29. Robert E. Looney and Stephen L. Mehay, “United States Defense Spending: Trends and Analysis,” in The Economics of Defense Spending: An International Survey, eds. Keith Hartley and Todd Sandler (London: Routledge, 1990); Philip D. Winters, “Discretionary Spending: Prospects and Future,” Congressional Research Service, report prepared for Congress (2005): RS-22128; D. Andrew Austin and Mindy R. Levit, “Trends in Discretionary Spending,” Congressional Research Service, report prepared for Congress (2010): RL-34424.

  30. This analogy works at another level as well. Just as luxury items such as yachts cost poor people more, and big weapons such as crab claws and antlers cost poor-quality males more, so, too, big-ticket weapons cost more to build in poor nations than they do in rich ones. An F-5 fighter costs more to produce in Spain or South Korea, for example, than it does in the United States, and still more for nations such as Ecuador. We can afford to mass-produce the planes in larger volumes, cutting the per-plane production cost enormously. We can afford to support a larger research and development program, giving us a head start on new innovations to fighter technology. We can afford to train a larger workforce skilled in the necessary technologies—everything from pilots to fly the plane to mechanics to repair it. All of these factors mean that rich nations pay an awful lot less per weapon for state-of-the-art things such as aircraft, submarines, missiles, and carriers than poorer nations do, exacerbating the differences between the haves and have-nots. For a discussion of these issues, see Michael Brsoska, “The Impact of Arms Production in the Third World,” Armed Forces and Society 4 (1989): 507–30.

  31. There are a great many books devoted to the Cold War. I particularly recommend R. E. Powaski, March to Armageddon: The United States and the Nuclear Arms Race, 1939 to the Present (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1987); P. Glynn, Closing Pandora’s Box: Arms Races, Arms Control, and the History of the Cold War (New York: Basic Books, 1992); R. Rhodes, Arsenals of Folly: The Making of the Nuclear Arms Race (New York: Vintage Books, 2008); D. Hoffman, The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy (New York: Doubleday, 2009); and James R. Arnold and Roberta Wiener, eds., Cold War: The Essential Reference Guide (Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO, 2012). In addition, for clear, concise discussions of the arms race, I recommend Dupuy, Evolution of Weapons and Warfare; O’Connell, Of Arms and Men; and O’Connell, Soul of the Sword.

  32. O’Connell, Of Arms and Men; O’Connell, Soul of the Sword.

  33. Ibid.; see also Dildy and Thompson, F-86 Sabre vs MiG-15.

  34. O’Connell, Of Arms and Men; O’Connell, Soul of the Sword.

  35. Ibid.; see also Kenneth Macksey, Tank Versus Tank: The Illustrated Story of Armored Battlefield Conflict in the Twentieth Century (New York: Barnes and Noble Books, 1999); and Stephen Hart, ed., Atlas of Armored Warfare from 1916 to the Present Day (New York: Metro Books, 2012).

  36. Ibid.

  37. Dupuy, Evolution of Weapons and Warfare; R. E. Powaski, March to Armageddon: The United States and the Nuclear Arms Race, 1939 to the Present (New York: Oxford University Press, 1987); O’Connell, Of Arms and Men; Glynn, Closing Pandora’s Box; O’Connell, Soul of the Sword; Rhodes, Arsenals of Folly; Hoffman, Dead Hand; Arnold and Wiener, Cold War.

  38. Ibid.

  39. O’Connell, Of Arms and Men; Glynn, Closing Pandora’s Box; O’Connell, Soul of the Sword.

  40. Dupuy, Evolution of Weapons and Warfare; Powaski, March to Armageddon; O’Connell, Of Arms and Men; Glynn, Closing Pandora’s Box; O’Connell, Soul of the Sword; Rhodes, Arsenals of Folly; Hoffman, Dead Hand; Arnold and Wiener, Cold War.

  41. Ibid.

  42. Ibid.

  43. O’Connell, Of Arms and Men; Glynn, Closing Pandora’s Box; O’Connell, Soul of the Sword.

  44. Hoffman, Dead Hand.

  45. O’Connell, Of Arms and Men; Glynn, Closing Pandora’s Box; O’Connell, Soul of the Sword.

  46. B. M. Russett, What Price Vigilance? The Burdens of National Defense (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1970).

  47. O’ Connell, of Arms and Men; Glynn, Closing Pandora’s Box; O’ Connell, Soul of the Sword.

  48. For example, Russett, What Price Vigilance?; and Paul G. Pierpaoli Jr., “Consequences of the Cold War,” in Arnold and Wiener, Cold War.

  49. Ibid.

  50. Ibid.

  51. Ibid.; see also O’Connell, Soul of the Sword.

  52. Ibid.

  14. Mass Destruction

  1. A number of accounts of this incident, and the events leading up to it, have now been published. I recommend Stephen J. Cimbala, “Year of Maximum Danger? The 1983 ‘War Scare’ and US-Soviet Deterrence,” Journal of Slavic Military Studies 13 (2000): 1–24; Arnav Manchanda, “When Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction: The Able Archer Incident,” Cold War History 9 (2009): 111–33; D. Hoffman, The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and Its Dangerous Legacy (New York: Doubleday, 2009); and especially the Ph.D. dissertation of Andrew Russell Garland, “1983: The Most Dangerous Year” (University of Nevada Las Vegas, 2011). I should also point out that not all scholars agree that this incident came as close as it did to the end; for an alternative view, see Vojtech Mastny, “How Able Was ‘Able Archer’?: Nuclear Trigger and Intelligence in Perspective,” Journal of Cold War Studies 11 (2009): 108–23.

  2. Ibid.

  3. Ibid.

  4. For examples, see Charles A. Kupchan, “Life After Pax Americana,” World Policy Journal 16 (1999): 20–27; Evan Feigenbaum, “China’s Challenge to Pax Americana,” Washington Quarterly 24 (2001): 31–43.

  5. For vivid and frightening coverage of the destructive power of nuclear weapons, and the risk of accidental detonation, I recommend Eric Schlosser’s Command and Control: Nuclear Weapons, the Damascus Accident, and the Illusion of Safety (New York: The Penguin Press, 2013).

  6. Jeanne Guillemin, Biological Weapons: From the Invention of State-Sponsored Programs to Contemporary Bioterrorism (New York: Columbia University Press, 2005); Mark Wheelis, Lajos Rózsa, and Malcolm Dando, Deadly Cultures: Biological Weapons Since 1945 (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2006); Hoffman, Dead Hand.

  7. Ibid.

  8. Ibid.

  Index

  The index that appeared in the print version of this title does not match the pages in your e-book. Please use the search function on your e-reading device to search for terms of interest. For your reference, the terms that appear in the print index are listed below.

  aardvarks

  Able Archer 83, Operation

  Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System

  Aesop

  Afghanistan

  Agincourt, Battle of

  aircraft

  biplanes

  bombers

  Cold War and

  fighter

  reconnaissance

  stealth

  transport

  Aircraft in Warfare (Lanchester)

  airfoil theory

  AK-47 rifle

  Albatros C.I plane

  Allen, Bengt

  Allerød period

  Allosaurus

  al-Qaeda

  ambush predators

  sit-and-wait

  stalking

  American colonial forts

  American Revolution

  Anancus

  Andean cities

  Andropov, Yuri

  anglerfish

  humpback

  animal weapons. See also specific species and types of weapons

  comparing, w
ith human weapons

  female, vs. male

  females attracted to

  growth of, vs. other body parts

  number of species wielding

  proportion and

  types of

  ankylosaurs

  antelopes

  pronghorn

  antennae, horn size vs.

  ant farms

  antimissile defenses

  antlers

  beetle

  caribou

  costs of

  deer

  elk

  fly

  Irish elk

  moose

  sexual selection and

  as signal

  ants

  African army

  army

  big-headed

  bullet

  castes and

  trap-jaw

  Archimedes

  armadillos

  armies

  new weapons and change in tactics

  siege warfare and

  sneak attacks and

  armor

  costs vs. benefits

  curling-up posture and

  evolution of

  fish and

  human soldiers and

  knights and

  sticklebacks and

  arms races

  Cold War

  collapse of

  competition and

  deterrence and

  duels and

  humans and

  fortifications and

  ingredients of

  naval

  political, between states

  sneak attacks and

  sneaky males and

  stages of

  vehicular

  arrowheads

  arrows

  arsinotheres

  artificial selection experiments

  artillery

  Art of War (Sun Tzu)

  Askut

  assessment, sequential

  Assyrians

  atlatl

  attrition

  Aztecs

  B-17 flying fortress

  B-29 superfortress

  Backwell, Patricia

  bacteria

  ballistas

  bamboo bugs

  barracuda

  battering rams

  battles. See also duels

  choosing

  duels vs. scrambles

  Lanchester’s laws and

  battleships. See ships

  beaver dams

  bees

  big-headed

  cuckoo

  beetles

  bombardier

  desert

  dung

  flower

  forelimbs

  frog-legged leaf

  harlequin

  horns

  knobby fungus

  nutrition and

  rhinoceros

  stag

  tortoise

  underground behavior of

  Belarus

  Bell, Michael

  Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (1972)

  biological vs. cultural evolution

  biological weapons

  bird nests

  birds of paradise

  Bison

  antiquus

  bison

  bluefish

  Bolnick, Dan

  bombs

  bone

  Boone and Crockett Club

  branches

  Britain

  Britain, Battle of

  British Royal Navy

  brontotheres

  buffalo

  bunkers

  Burkhardt, Dietrich

  burrows

  caiman

  calcium and phosphorus

  Caldwell, Roy

  calls and songs

  camels

  camouflage

  cuttlefish and

  mice and

  snowshoe hares and

  soldiers and

  canine teeth

  cannons

  car bombs

  caribou

  carnivore teeth and jaws

  Carnotaurus

  Carthaginians

  castles

  catapults

  caterpillars

  cats

  cavitation bubbles

  chameleons

  Chauchat rifle

  cheating. See sneaky tactics

  chemical weapons

  Cheyenne Mountain bunker

  China

  Chinese hackers

  chitin

  choke points

  Christy, John

  circulation theory of lift

  clades

  claspers

  claws

  crabs

  predator

  shrimp

  “click” mechanism

  Clovis points

  coats of arms

  cockroaches

  Cohen, Yosef

  Cold War

  Cole, USS (destroyer)

  common ancestor

  competition. See also duels

  African elephants and

  big-headed flies and

  duels vs. scrambles and

  dung beetles and

  economic defensibility and

  harlequin beetles and

  jacanas and

  manufactured weapons and

  sexual selection and

  vehicular arms races and

  computerized technology

  costs vs. benefits (cost effectiveness)

  antlers and

  arms races and

  balance point and

  beetle horn size and

  Cold War and

  crab claw size and

  energy needs and

  fortifications and

  human weapons and

  resource trade-offs and

  sexual selection and

  signals and

  ships and

  spines and

  variation within species and

  weapons of mass destruction and

  Cotton, Sam

  coursers

  crabs

  claw waving and deterrence

  human warfare and

  fiddler

  ghost

  spiny

  Crécy, Battle of

  creodonts

  crocodiles

  crossbows

  Crusades

  Cuba

  missile crisis

  cultural vs. biological evolution

  cuttlefish, Australian

  cyberattacks

  dances

  Darwin, Charles

  da Vinci, Leonardo

  Davis-Monthan Air Force Base

  “dead hand” launch system

  deer

  antlers

  clades

  fallow

  red

  DEFCON 1

  defensive weapons

  camouflage

  chemical

  curling-up posture

  genetics and

  human soldiers and

  spikes and spines

  stickleback

  de la Motte, Ingrid

  deterrence

  arms races reinforced by

  bamboo bugs and

  Cold War and

  conditions for success of

  fiddler crabs and

  ibex and

  political arms races and

  signals and

  weapons of mass destruction and

  dinosaurs

  dirk-toothed cat

  displays

  division of labor

  DNA

  dogs

  dolphins

  Dreadnought, HMS (warship)

  drones

  duels

  arms race collapse and

  branches and

  burrows and

  clades and

  deterrence and

  fair fights and

  fighter planes and

  flies and

 
habitat and

  linear laws of combat and

  political arms races and

  scrambles vs.

  ships and

  sneaking vs.

  vehicular arms races and

  dung beetles

  artificial selection and

  ball rollers

  costs and

  dimorphic

  duels and

  environmental change and

  horn diversity and

  sneaky males and

  tunnelers

  earwigs

  economic defensibility. See also costs vs. benefits; resources

  Edward III, King of England

  eels, umbrella 42

  eggs

  Egyptians

  Eisenhower, Dwight D.

  elephants

  African

  clades and

  elk. See also Irish elk

  environmental changes

  EPK rifle

  Estonia

  evolution. See also natural selection; sexual selection

  armor and

  camouflage and

  carnivore teeth and

  competition and

  defensive traits and

  sexual vs. natural selection and

  social insects and independent

  eyes, dung beetle

  F-16 Fighting Falcon fighter plane

  F-22 Raptor planes

  F-35 joint strike fighter

  F-86 Sabre fighter planes

  F-100 and F-106 supersonic fighter planes

  Fabre, Jean-Henri

  faeders

  fangtooth

  Fedorov Avtomat assault rifle

  female-mimic males

  females vs. males

  attraction to weapon size and

  competition and sexual selection and

  female choice selection and

  human sexual selection and

  sexual vs. natural selection and

  Fertile Crescent

  finches, zebra

  firearms

  fish

  lake vs. marine

  speed and body shape

  teeth and jaws

  flies

  antlers

  clades

  females vs. males and

  New Guinean moose

  stalk-eyed

  vinegar

  flint blades

  flu

  fly-by-wire systems

  Folsom points

  force effectiveness

  force multipliers

  force strength

  forelimbs

  cats

  harlequin beetles

  mantis shrimp

  praying mantises

  sabertooth

  fortifications

  animal vs. human

  human

  termite

  fossils

  Fowler, Kevin

  France

  frogs

  Asian

  poison-dart

  túngara

  gametes

  gar, alligator

  GDP

  genetic variation. See also DNA

  Germany

  Gibraltar

  giraffes

  Global Hawk unarmed aerial vehicle

  glyptodonts

  gopher, horned

 

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