Oh, damn, even the big ones are smelting.

"the enemy has researched new technology"

*Panic spamming the infantry button* oh shit oh shit oh shit....

Love this comment!

This comment WINS 😂🤣

This validates my "they wanted Swift's land" theory. They have just learned the hard way that they can't "just follow the rains" anymore, there's borders now!

Things are always changing.

Nice touch the these guys have a different design for their spears.

Oren has been busy.....or maybe that den wasn't his first attempt......

Either that... or someone else figured out the technology independently.

This was shown in an Oren flashback in the first volume. Oren traveled far south and encountered a mixed tribe of swine and antelopes. He learned from them both their metallurgy and that different species can cooperate and live together. Then he returned north, had some untold encounter with the bear of the forest, and then founded his "Stone Hollow" tribe.

They've been collecting the "sharps" for some time now. Instead of just piling them in baskets, why aren't they using them? Training to fight with them? They're clearly effective force multipliers!

Probably because they don't want them to exist. They liked the status quo.

Like nukes, you can't get the genie back into the bottle.

Nope.

But you're always going to have those in power who will stop anyone who tries to wield that genie. So the genie goes unused.

...until someone gets ahold of it some other way.

And then removes the obstruction.

Sure you can, if you kill everyone who knows about nukes. Hopefully they're not planning to go that far.

That would have maybe worked back when they were new and recently invented, but I don't believe that is possible anymore today. Even our surface-level general knowledge about how nukes work is enough for someone who knows his stuff to reinvent them, given some time. You would need to eradicate most of human civilization to put *that* genie back in the bottle, and even then it's not guaranteed.

Which is something the bison and wolves probably want to avoid.

This is even worse than with nukes - even if the principles behind them are clear, nukes need a titanic industrial operation to produce the materials required to construct them, whereas, as the Romans proved, you can just dig metal out of the ground with hand tools and fire to soften the rock.

Wolves aren't smart enough. Sprig said so!

That is the strangest I heard yet. at least in reality carnivores are always smarter.. I mean.. you need to hunt and have a tactic .. how much brain you need to hunt down fruits or gras?

I'm not saying I actually believe that; just making a joke by extending what the red-eyed squirrel said.

oh i love that its not just the smaller prey animals who are taking up weaponsmithing, but the big ones with "built in" weapons too

Oooh, love this new twist!

Yes, carve em up

I still find it really hard to sympathize with em

Ok and that explains their desperation for expansion into Swift's territory. South is now a death sentence for the protectors of the Herd and why the Zenith were disturbed by Oren's spear. They just fled from death on that side and now it seems they get the same problem from the other.

Funny enough Swift might solve the Zenith's little problem if she and Rask can work this out how best to integrate a Wolf family into the Hollow. Cause Oren's spears have already been dulled for carnivores when thier existence does not endanger the Hollow. And even Hemlock seems to allow Swift a place here. So hopefully when the Zenith crosses the path of Swift with the Hollow defense force, aka prey with spears, Ramble may be able to barter a deal between Mishap and Oren (and Hemlock as she will have an opinion on this). Cause the Pack and Herd would be save near the Hollow as they already have a working relationship of the weakest Bisons being sacrificed for the pack and the Pack protecting the Herd from other Preds. And the Hollow could now add the protection against armed prey while they are here thus the status quo of the Zenith is not in danger as a 3rd party is using the "Teeth" to now protect the Preds.

'On the zenith, we only take what the mothers choose to give...'

So, the female bison willingly sacrifice some of their own young to keep a large wolf pack fed, and in return said wolves protect the remainder of the herd? Is this really the trade-off that's being made? Because if so, there might be one or two, um, small complications.

The old.

Once at a living history event, there were spears with tips crafted from bone available from a vendor.

Nobody noticed the heartbroken mate of Keen in the back of the first panel yet?

Pointy stick bois. Just wait until they figure out you can throw them!

Are you okay with redlines and critique?
Of course, it's completely fine if not! No harm, no foul!
There's 0 expectation, I realize that the subject critqued may not appear enough to be worth the hassle!
As your northern neighbor, up in Wyoming, I'm rather familiar with pronghorns. I quite like just watching them, pfft.

Their anatomy is very particular though, a pain an a half to draw (they're, quite literally, in a family all their own!)
If you ever want to look at something and think "That just...doesn't make sense" the skull of a pronghorn buck always gives me an illogical uncomfortable vibe, pfft: https://www.skeletonsandskullssuper.....skull-replica/
So they would be the topic of the critique, but, again. I completely understand if you'd rather not!

So the prekin goes for kinda genocide now killing whole packs?
Hm.
Time for the wolves to invent the gun.

"the future is now old man.." - The Grassland Guys.. probably..

Having worked extensively with pronghorn in the past, that is exactly the expression I would expect from two pronghorn-like males carrying spears.

A pronghorn with a spear is scary. Literal best hit and runner.

I just binged 001 - 350. Damn fine work!

Did anyone notice the two wolves on the first panel o-o someone they knew must have died in the exchange from the past panels