ABSTRACT
One major difference between Western and Indigenous ways of understanding the natural world lies in their attitudes toward and response to predatory organisms, such as wolves, bears, big cats, crocodilians, and sharks. In essence, this can be summed up by the observation that despite their tendency to consume large quantities of animal protein, people of the Western philosophical tradition tend to regard themselves as prey. As a consequence, individuals who follow this tradition of fear thus try to exterminate any potential predator. In contrast, followers of Indigenous philosophical traditions tend to regard themselves as predators and show respect for the nonhumans who share their ecological role (Schlesier 1987; Pierotti and Wildcat 1997b).
