Eskimo Science

2 Pages 511 Words

Response Paper: Eskimo Science, Richard Nelson

The Eskimo’s in the interior of Alaska, treat animals with much respect. When they kill an animal they have special rules that they follow so that they do not make the animal mad. They believe that the animals know what is going on even after death. The bear is one of the most respected animals to the Eskimos.
The Eskimos remove the feet first so that the spirit of the dead animal does not wander. Then they eat certain parts of the animal away from the village, at the kill site. The rest of the animal is shared among the rest of the community.
Another thing that Eskimos are knowledgeable about is the environment. They can tell when a storm is coming by how the seals surface in the water. Also they know how the polar bears hunt the seal. The bear looks for snow caps in the ice, which is where the seals make their dens, then they break away the bottom of the ice to make it weak. When the seal enters the den, the bears hit the ice once and the ice cracks the seals scull. This is how the Polar bears can easily get their prey. Also the Polar bears stalk the seals. When the seal is still then they inch forward but, when the seal moves they stand still. The Eskimos use this to their advantage. They act like seals and lure the bears into close distance so they can kill them.

Eskimos are extraordinary people. They have survived the climate of the harsh Artic and have kept their traditions and values throughout many years. I believe that we could learn a lot from their hunting skills and the way that they treat the dead animals.

As Americans we are selfish people. For example, we hunt deer, and most of the time it is only a sport to us. Many hunters don’t need to hunt deer for the meat, they just want to be big shots and kill the biggest deer. When they do kill it, the hunters don’t care about what they do with the bodies. They gut the deer, skin it,...