@Dinkelsen its probably the stalkers i did some research and the stalkers seem to eat way more then the other predators.
something like a fish every 15 to 30 seconds while most predators only eat once every 2 minutes
It's partly the stalkers, but partly other factors (game mechanics or player) combined in most of our observations.
If the stalkers are causing a lot of food fish to disappear, then what is causing the stalkers to disappear?
I built near the edge of a small section of kelp forest closest to one of the thermal vents in the shallows for my second go round. As predicted, all the fishes disappeared from my immediate base area due to my disturbance or fishing... but then the biome next to me (the kelp forest) also started to go barren, including the stalkers. I never built a base there or even took fish from there. I took quartz, silver and scrap metal. Did taking the scrap metal cause the stalkers to vacate? Is this intended behavior or coding issues?
These observations bring up more questions than answers.
@Dinkelsen its probably the stalkers i did some research and the stalkers seem to eat way more then the other predators.
something like a fish every 15 to 30 seconds while most predators only eat once every 2 minutes
It's partly the stalkers, but partly other factors (game mechanics or player) combined in most of our observations.
If the stalkers are causing a lot of food fish to disappear, then what is causing the stalkers to disappear?
I built near the edge of a small section of kelp forest closest to one of the thermal vents in the shallows for my second go round. As predicted, all the fishes disappeared from my immediate base area due to my disturbance or fishing... but then the biome next to me (the kelp forest) also started to go barren, including the stalkers. I never built a base there or even took fish from there. I took quartz, silver and scrap metal. Did taking the scrap metal cause the stalkers to vacate? Is this intended behavior or coding issues?
These observations bring up more questions than answers.
I think we may need to start paying more attention to bleeder behavior. We know for a fact that they actively hunt everything, so it may be the case that they are just too strong a predator in their current form.
What also bugs me is the fact that fish dissapear near my base, but when I repopulate the area, the new fish stay. (At least I think so, I was not really examining it, I just saw them now and then when entering/exiting the base) So whatever drives the old fish away, is appearently gone.
If it really is the bleeders, what makes them go away? Maybe they eat themselves, until only one is left?
It's still not proved if the pure presence of a bigger base is causing depopulation. A small base has no impact, that's what I know now. Let's see .... once I get over the debacle of nowadays absurdly stupid fish, I will test to move my main base to an untouched biome, in case there is one left in my current save.
there is a post somewhere on trello that says: Stalker and ReaperLeviathan non-dependence on player.
this is considered done and was part of the H²O update so I guess stalkers just leave searching for food since they stay active while you aren't around?
If the stalkers are causing a lot of food fish to disappear, then what is causing the stalkers to disappear?
I'm now totally convinced that, after patiently collected all their metal salvages, they all disappeared in the end by eating their precious treasures (it's definitively a pure titanium overdose) !
(... ok, stop joking )
That said (and I'm now a bit off topic), did someone find not strange the behaviour of the stalkers, grabbing all this metal pieces ?
They're acting like this could be just natural for them, doing it all the day (except while devastating any lifeform around them). But ... wait : the metal salvages are said to be parts of the Aurora (or am I wrong ?), so they just appeared at the same moment than the player (a few minutes/hours ago). How could the stalkers suddenly all behave the same way with these particular materials ?
This is in no way an "ancestral" way of life for stalkers (because there is nothing else for them to collect in the kelp forests, by the way). Why do they seem so "compulsive" in this respect ? [ off topic mode off ]
How could the stalkers suddenly all behave the same way with these particular materials ?
As a part of the ecosystem this question is on topic, Piscator. So no worries ...
Someone once came up with the looky looky, shiny shiny theory, as a sort of display pattern. And that's not surprising me ... even if the material itself was totally new to them. I asked myself the same question 25 years ago, watching my rat filching a burning cigarette out of the ashtray and hiding it behind the curtain. It didn't ever smoke ... hehe
So I may have stumbled upon a possible explanation for where the stalkers are going...
I was feeding peepers to one to get it to bring me metal salvage and drop teeth, and moving to pick them up as he was dropping them. In the process we were slowly moving farther and farther away from his spawn point and ended up about 30-50 meters away when I ran out of inventory space and hopped in my seamoth to head home. Some time later, I went back to get some more teeth, only to find him missing. I was able to find him after a short search, however, as he had moved his home spot to where we had been exchanging fish for teeth. On a hunch, I grabbed a few more fish and began feeding him again, at which time he began following me as there was an absence of metal for him to grab for me. I swam back to my base with him in tow and then went straight inside. He has now stayed in the vicinity of my base for 3 day / night cycles and would appear to be calling it home, though he is definitely no longer tamed as he attacks me as soon as I exit the base.
All of this has me thinking that its possible that stalkers may have an outer limit to their range of movement before they reset and create a new home location. If they've already eaten all of the fish within that range and then one outside of that range catches their attention, or anything for that matter (you, a piece of salvage, another stalker), and they move outside of their home range, they may simply be resettling farther away. Because this happens without any sort of outward indication, we are likely not to notice until some time later when we realize they are missing.
My new neighbor, living happily about 100m from the nearest kelp forest
These are interesting news, SpacedInvader. I'm curious how long it will stay. But the latest development step of 'debraining' all fish suggests me it will be forever or at least until the next contextually 'bug fix'.
All of this has me thinking that its possible that stalkers may have an outer limit to their range of movement before they reset and create a new home location.
Totally agree with this
I had about the same experience a few days ago with a stalker in the safe shallows, ... but my purpose was slightly different that yours, @SpacedInvader : I wondered if there was a kind of limit to the teeth number such a predator could "offer" me.
So I collected a pretty high stock of metal salvages, and went in search of an obliging guy in the kelp forest. I started to shake the materials in front of him, one after the other, and the stalker soon joined me in the game, bringing me pieces and pieces back (and, of course, the precious teeth I was looking for). With a pretty stock of teeth in my pocket (a twenty or so), I decided to stop my experience, and then swam back to my base. I quickly noticed that the stalker followed me ... till there !
Never again did I manage to get free of it ! The stalker constantly lurked around my house for days ...
I thought I had "broken" something in its behavior code by "overfeeding" (over-stimulating ?) it, but the observation of SpacedInvader could explain there was indeed something else on the way with this particular predator. A kind of flexibility in the way the stalker do apply its own sense of territoriality, allowing it to move away in a brand new area, and so keep itself "active" in the food chain (if so, these are bad news for the peepers and so, I'm afraid !)
@Piscator, if you want to get rid of him, just grab a few peepers, feed him and then lead him away once he is tamed. Go to where you want him to live and wait until he bites you before you hightail it out of there. Once the taming wears off, that's where he'll live until he moves himself again.
@SpacedInvader - have you driven a long way from your base and over-nighted in the seamoth somewhere a long way away (or in an auxilary base).... I am curious to know if this would 'despawn' your not-so-friendly neighbourhood stalker
EDIT:
Also - what's the latest theories - does anyone fancy summing them up for me?
@rhys_elcins, as far as I can tell, the move is permanent until they move again through the same mechanic. I went on a 3 day resource gathering mission to the grand reef and he was still there when I came back.
@Piscator, if you want to get rid of him, just grab a few peepers, feed him and then lead him away once he is tamed. Go to where you want him to live and wait until he bites you before you hightail it out of there. Once the taming wears off, that's where he'll live until he moves himself again.
Thank you for the info !
(... Piscator's gonna make some stalkers move as far as the dunes, just to preserve the local kind fishes, he, he !)
Happy to report the dev's have implemented a spawn system. Just saw a Stalker eat a boomerang fish and a few seconds later another one spawned in with a puff of bubbles. Also it appears they also implemented some of the eggs into the game. I'm playing in experimental btw so I doubt people will see this in the stable branch until the dev's release a new one.
Happy to report the dev's have implemented a spawn system. Just saw a Stalker eat a boomerang fish and a few seconds later another one spawned in with a puff of bubbles. Also it appears they also implemented some of the eggs into the game. I'm playing in experimental btw so I doubt people will see this in the stable branch until the dev's release a new one.
What build are you on exactly? I'm going to want to play around with this myself...
EDIT: Actually, I guess that's a stupid question... will play around with the mechanic to see just how effective it is and report back.
When I started my current world, I was struck by how vibrant and alive the game felt. Their were fish everywhere, I could hear the peepers all the time. It was really beautiful. After a while, I noticed something different, but could not quite place it. Then I realized that all of the fish were gone. There were a few here and there, but it was mostly empty. It was still beautiful, but it was a silent, empty, sad kind of beauty. I really missed the fish, so I bred and released some peepers, airsacks, and boomerangs. most of them vanished, and try as I might, I could not get any semblance of how it looked at first. If there is an issue with the ecosystem, then it needs to be part of the storyline and something that we can solve. The game is just depressing without fish.
I agree this is an important question. Is this no-respawn feature a part of the gameplay like said in the first post or is it just experimental/non finished ? I'm confused about the durability of the game, I want to settle many bases, learn to know this strange world.
And if one day a scenario with an end game is implemented i'm with those who wouldn't rush into it for achievment or whatever !
So what about the ecosystem ?Later, do we have to manage it locally ?
I see so many possibilities of passionating gameplay with the ecosystem, so after 15h+ in-game the world seems to be pretty empty in the actual version.
And what if you can craft an "inseminator" module on top of an aquarium to automatically release some fishes when it come full.
All these words here just for one question. Is the no-respawn a definitive feature or a bandage to have time on other stuffs ?
That would be a good thing to know what the team think about this central subject for the long term gameplay. What is a very important thing for me, and i assume, many others..
... You wanna help them? They didn't ever need you. You want to protect them? From what, from space invaders? Don't forget the role you are playing here. YOU are the intruder, causing the imbalance! You really want to help them? Check out how! Or take the causalistic answer: Leave the planet as soon as possible!
That bit about leaving them alone and not needing our help - isn't that the whole point?
If we screwed up the ecosystem somehow because of crashing the equivalent of a nuclear bomb into the sea, and then find a way to halt that damage from further devastation ... shouldn't the remaining population of fishes and plants start to make a comeback? Shouldn't that be part of the 'story' driven motivation and progression? I feel like it should. I loved hearing the computer voice tell me how long it would take to start clearing the area of radiation. It's a great start to a great story.
But aside from the story - for practical game mechanics, it does not make sense to state the reason for no fish respawns is to force the player into ever wider food hunting patterns. That's counter intuitive to what makes Subnautica so charming in the first place. To me, crafting progression and my natural love of exploration are the two biggest factors to forcing me into more dangerous areas ... not because I've sucked the last biome dry like some sort of parasite and now have to go find more fish to eat.
1] The more active your presence in a biome i.e. collecting resources. As you deplete resources
Predators will disappear.
2] So yes the Aurora had an odd impact. We have an impact as well. I just haven't quite worked it out.
1] I've observed that around my main base, after 15h+ rabbit ray also disappear, no impact no the gazopods
but, like the stalkers the sand-sharks are only into deep depths now.
I haven't noticed an impact on the crab-snakes or the electric things..
2] Where there's a big hole in the aurora's flank, bow side, there is a deep dark rift just below. I assume the cyclop can enter it but i've only explored the entrance briefly with a seamoth and this really scared me Now we can release manually barely all species. But, damn, that sound's like a pretty poor gameplay.. As it's said in other posts Ecosystem can become a nice introduction to the story of this mysterious planet.
And, who knows ? Saving the ecosystem of this unique and beautiful planet or maybe you want to exploit all you need to escape , regardless for this xeno flora and fauna who clearly want you OUT.
Apart of that, is there anyone who release breeded fishes and have observed more predators after in the zone ? I've never tried to release many specimens.
I would like to see the reaper come around every now and then and snack on a few Stalkers. let the predator become the pray, to help keep control on the over fishing by the Stalkers. That would be fun to watch and scary at the same time. There is always a bigger fish. lol
I try and leave a small footprint by not fishing near my base , and just fish as I am explore or harvesting and spread my fish use over a larger area. Farming helps a lot.
I agree that the fish should respawn over time. The hard part is finding a balance between the predator and pray, and if that can be programmed into Subnautica. I hope so.
I am going to have to try breeding and releasing fish again I tried it early on but all left after a short time. I did have one rabbit fish stay longer then the rest, sadly "Bob left too.
And once I had 2 boomerang fish in a tank for a long time by themselves and when I put in a 3rd boomerang fish later when I came back all 3 disappeared.
I have played more then I would like to say, When I 1st started to play I didn't think about the overfishing problem and just assumed the fish would respawn. Boy was I wrong I Cleaned my starting area fast, but when
I moved out and would pass through that area later I see fish coming back into that area like the airsack fish. I know I murder every one and yet 190 days or more, I lost track of the days my last entry was at the 190 day mark with out a calendar in the game to help keep track time just fly's, but it seemed to me that the fish where coming back to the starting area from where I don't know.
The one think I haven't seen any one comment on or maybe I missed it, is calorie use and intake. If I am just chilling in my base or sub my food use should be less then if I was diving and harvesting ore and stuff, Like putting in a hard days work would burn more calories then sleeping.
I love Subnautica I cant wait and see the finished game when it is done.
The fish population shouldn't decrease because of 1 more predator. If that was the case, a stalker giving birth would destroy the entire environment.
The reason humans are depopulating the oceans is because of massive fishing (around 4 million fishing ships that can catch thousands of fish per day).
Radiation is also not treated realistically.
It is absorbed very well by water. Realistically......
While damaging radiation would travel a good distance above the water's surface...
You would probably be safe with 30 feet of water between you and the ship. The only fish that are likely to die are the ones that swim into the ship. Since it will be the smaller quickly breeding prey fish though.... A few dozen a day won't affect their population much (As it is a much smaller number than what other predators consume). In a few decades the local population might evolve an aversion to shiny objects.
"But what if the nuclear fuel is dissolving into the sea?" (This doesn't appear to be the case, it just looks like the cooling/shielding ruptured, not the containment, but oh well).
Usually nuclear fuel is made into rods or marbles, etc. That don't dissolve... but lets assume it is either a powder or a liquid that can seep into the ocean.
This situation far more dangerous, and would kill many more fish in the short term as they would just need to swim down current near the vessel in order to get a dose of radiation. Ouch.
Ironically, this would actually be the better problem if there was no handy human around to fix the reactor. The nuclear material would dissolve into the trillions of Liters/Gallons of water to the point of harmlessness much quicker (days to weeks) than a nuclear fuel rod/pebble would decay (hundreds of years).
PingonautIL, United StatesJoin Date: 2016-03-14Member: 214214Members
The real issue is with predators (not the player) being able to make an area lifeless in just a few days.
I think all it would take to fix this issue is:
-Allow fish to reproduce like they do in the tank (with a similar limit on how many there are before they stop reproducing)
-Why can't eggs hatch in the wild?
-(Unrelated to fish) allow plants to reproduce their items (Creepvine seed clusters, etc.)
I've actually started building a small area near my base with tanks for different fish in order to repopulate the area, and see what happens. Hopefully it helps.
Just letting you guys know that bred/hatched NPCs start to despawn the longer you're away from the spawn that's set when you initially release them.
I noticed this with a Gasopod that I released, but not fish. However, I've released another Gasopod and Jellyray near my base and they have yet to despawn. I'm starting to think they might just migrate away to where there is food.
Just letting you guys know that bred/hatched NPCs start to despawn the longer you're away from the spawn that's set when you initially release them.
I noticed this with a Gasopod that I released, but not fish. However, I've released another Gasopod and Jellyray near my base and they have yet to despawn. I'm starting to think they might just migrate away to where there is food.
You have to be away for quite a while while maintaining a considerable distance.
Comments
It's partly the stalkers, but partly other factors (game mechanics or player) combined in most of our observations.
If the stalkers are causing a lot of food fish to disappear, then what is causing the stalkers to disappear?
I built near the edge of a small section of kelp forest closest to one of the thermal vents in the shallows for my second go round. As predicted, all the fishes disappeared from my immediate base area due to my disturbance or fishing... but then the biome next to me (the kelp forest) also started to go barren, including the stalkers. I never built a base there or even took fish from there. I took quartz, silver and scrap metal. Did taking the scrap metal cause the stalkers to vacate? Is this intended behavior or coding issues?
These observations bring up more questions than answers.
I think we may need to start paying more attention to bleeder behavior. We know for a fact that they actively hunt everything, so it may be the case that they are just too strong a predator in their current form.
If it really is the bleeders, what makes them go away? Maybe they eat themselves, until only one is left?
this is considered done and was part of the H²O update so I guess stalkers just leave searching for food since they stay active while you aren't around?
I'm now totally convinced that, after patiently collected all their metal salvages, they all disappeared in the end by eating their precious treasures (it's definitively a pure titanium overdose) !
(... ok, stop joking
That said (and I'm now a bit off topic), did someone find not strange the behaviour of the stalkers, grabbing all this metal pieces ?
They're acting like this could be just natural for them, doing it all the day (except while devastating any lifeform around them). But ... wait : the metal salvages are said to be parts of the Aurora (or am I wrong ?), so they just appeared at the same moment than the player (a few minutes/hours ago). How could the stalkers suddenly all behave the same way with these particular materials ?
This is in no way an "ancestral" way of life for stalkers (because there is nothing else for them to collect in the kelp forests, by the way). Why do they seem so "compulsive" in this respect ? [ off topic mode off ]
As a part of the ecosystem this question is on topic, Piscator. So no worries ...
Someone once came up with the looky looky, shiny shiny theory, as a sort of display pattern. And that's not surprising me ... even if the material itself was totally new to them. I asked myself the same question 25 years ago, watching my rat filching a burning cigarette out of the ashtray and hiding it behind the curtain. It didn't ever smoke ... hehe
I was feeding peepers to one to get it to bring me metal salvage and drop teeth, and moving to pick them up as he was dropping them. In the process we were slowly moving farther and farther away from his spawn point and ended up about 30-50 meters away when I ran out of inventory space and hopped in my seamoth to head home. Some time later, I went back to get some more teeth, only to find him missing. I was able to find him after a short search, however, as he had moved his home spot to where we had been exchanging fish for teeth. On a hunch, I grabbed a few more fish and began feeding him again, at which time he began following me as there was an absence of metal for him to grab for me. I swam back to my base with him in tow and then went straight inside. He has now stayed in the vicinity of my base for 3 day / night cycles and would appear to be calling it home, though he is definitely no longer tamed as he attacks me as soon as I exit the base.
All of this has me thinking that its possible that stalkers may have an outer limit to their range of movement before they reset and create a new home location. If they've already eaten all of the fish within that range and then one outside of that range catches their attention, or anything for that matter (you, a piece of salvage, another stalker), and they move outside of their home range, they may simply be resettling farther away. Because this happens without any sort of outward indication, we are likely not to notice until some time later when we realize they are missing.
Totally agree with this
I had about the same experience a few days ago with a stalker in the safe shallows, ... but my purpose was slightly different that yours, @SpacedInvader : I wondered if there was a kind of limit to the teeth number such a predator could "offer" me.
So I collected a pretty high stock of metal salvages, and went in search of an obliging guy in the kelp forest. I started to shake the materials in front of him, one after the other, and the stalker soon joined me in the game, bringing me pieces and pieces back (and, of course, the precious teeth I was looking for). With a pretty stock of teeth in my pocket (a twenty or so), I decided to stop my experience, and then swam back to my base. I quickly noticed that the stalker followed me ... till there !
Never again did I manage to get free of it ! The stalker constantly lurked around my house for days ...
I thought I had "broken" something in its behavior code by "overfeeding" (over-stimulating ?) it, but the observation of SpacedInvader could explain there was indeed something else on the way with this particular predator. A kind of flexibility in the way the stalker do apply its own sense of territoriality, allowing it to move away in a brand new area, and so keep itself "active" in the food chain (if so, these are bad news for the peepers and so, I'm afraid !)
EDIT:
Also - what's the latest theories - does anyone fancy summing them up for me?
Thank you for the info !
(... Piscator's gonna make some stalkers move as far as the dunes, just to preserve the local kind fishes, he, he !)
What build are you on exactly? I'm going to want to play around with this myself...
EDIT: Actually, I guess that's a stupid question... will play around with the mechanic to see just how effective it is and report back.
And if one day a scenario with an end game is implemented i'm with those who wouldn't rush into it for achievment or whatever !
So what about the ecosystem ? Later, do we have to manage it locally ?
I see so many possibilities of passionating gameplay with the ecosystem, so after 15h+ in-game the world seems to be pretty empty in the actual version.
And what if you can craft an "inseminator" module on top of an aquarium to automatically release some fishes when it come full.
All these words here just for one question. Is the no-respawn a definitive feature or a bandage to have time on other stuffs ?
That would be a good thing to know what the team think about this central subject for the long term gameplay. What is a very important thing for me, and i assume, many others..
In my limited play I have noticed these impacts.
Seal up the radiation leaks on the aurora, and the fauna will slowly depart the "shallows" side of the crash site.
The more active your presence in a biome i.e. collecting resources. As you deplete resources
Predators will disappear.
Obviously as one depletes food fish predators will disappear.
None of this is "proven" just stuff I have noticed.
So yes the Aurora had an odd impact. We have an impact as well. I just haven't quite worked it out.
1] I've observed that around my main base, after 15h+ rabbit ray also disappear, no impact no the gazopods
but, like the stalkers the sand-sharks are only into deep depths now.
I haven't noticed an impact on the crab-snakes or the electric things..
2] Where there's a big hole in the aurora's flank, bow side, there is a deep dark rift just below. I assume the cyclop can enter it but i've only explored the entrance briefly with a seamoth and this really scared me
Now we can release manually barely all species. But, damn, that sound's like a pretty poor gameplay.. As it's said in other posts Ecosystem can become a nice introduction to the story of this mysterious planet.
And, who knows ? Saving the ecosystem of this unique and beautiful planet or maybe you want to exploit all you need to escape , regardless for this xeno flora and fauna who clearly want you OUT.
Apart of that, is there anyone who release breeded fishes and have observed more predators after in the zone ? I've never tried to release many specimens.
I try and leave a small footprint by not fishing near my base , and just fish as I am explore or harvesting and spread my fish use over a larger area. Farming helps a lot.
I agree that the fish should respawn over time. The hard part is finding a balance between the predator and pray, and if that can be programmed into Subnautica. I hope so.
I am going to have to try breeding and releasing fish again I tried it early on but all left after a short time. I did have one rabbit fish stay longer then the rest, sadly "Bob left too.
And once I had 2 boomerang fish in a tank for a long time by themselves and when I put in a 3rd boomerang fish later when I came back all 3 disappeared.
I have played more then I would like to say, When I 1st started to play I didn't think about the overfishing problem and just assumed the fish would respawn. Boy was I wrong I Cleaned my starting area fast, but when
I moved out and would pass through that area later I see fish coming back into that area like the airsack fish. I know I murder every one and yet 190 days or more, I lost track of the days my last entry was at the 190 day mark with out a calendar in the game to help keep track time just fly's, but it seemed to me that the fish where coming back to the starting area from where I don't know.
The one think I haven't seen any one comment on or maybe I missed it, is calorie use and intake. If I am just chilling in my base or sub my food use should be less then if I was diving and harvesting ore and stuff, Like putting in a hard days work would burn more calories then sleeping.
I love Subnautica I cant wait and see the finished game when it is done.
The reason humans are depopulating the oceans is because of massive fishing (around 4 million fishing ships that can catch thousands of fish per day).
Radiation is also not treated realistically.
It is absorbed very well by water. Realistically......
While damaging radiation would travel a good distance above the water's surface...
You would probably be safe with 30 feet of water between you and the ship. The only fish that are likely to die are the ones that swim into the ship. Since it will be the smaller quickly breeding prey fish though.... A few dozen a day won't affect their population much (As it is a much smaller number than what other predators consume). In a few decades the local population might evolve an aversion to shiny objects.
"But what if the nuclear fuel is dissolving into the sea?" (This doesn't appear to be the case, it just looks like the cooling/shielding ruptured, not the containment, but oh well).
Usually nuclear fuel is made into rods or marbles, etc. That don't dissolve... but lets assume it is either a powder or a liquid that can seep into the ocean.
This situation far more dangerous, and would kill many more fish in the short term as they would just need to swim down current near the vessel in order to get a dose of radiation. Ouch.
Ironically, this would actually be the better problem if there was no handy human around to fix the reactor. The nuclear material would dissolve into the trillions of Liters/Gallons of water to the point of harmlessness much quicker (days to weeks) than a nuclear fuel rod/pebble would decay (hundreds of years).
I think all it would take to fix this issue is:
-Allow fish to reproduce like they do in the tank (with a similar limit on how many there are before they stop reproducing)
-Why can't eggs hatch in the wild?
-(Unrelated to fish) allow plants to reproduce their items (Creepvine seed clusters, etc.)
I've actually started building a small area near my base with tanks for different fish in order to repopulate the area, and see what happens. Hopefully it helps.
I noticed this with a Gasopod that I released, but not fish. However, I've released another Gasopod and Jellyray near my base and they have yet to despawn. I'm starting to think they might just migrate away to where there is food.
You have to be away for quite a while while maintaining a considerable distance.