Why do the numidids feel the way they do about scientific curiosity?

Science is dangerous.

The Numidid are a pretty paranoid species. And why not? They’re not from a deathworld like us. The world they came to was not the paradise they expected it to be. Everything growing on it was at the same time familiar to, and very different from, the biota they left behind them. [Eg: A perfectly delicious fruit from home looks exactly like a toxic doppelganger on their new world]

Broken bones lead to death from shock.

And since nobody wants to die, they treat safety as a priority.

Science, on the other hand, says, “Wow. Those two chemicals went bang and I nearly caught fire. I wonder if they’ll go bang if I mix them again in different proportions?”

Science says, “That’s an interesting-looking predator species. I wonder if I can observe its habits without being eaten?”

This is equivalent to a death wish to the Numidid.

Science is insane.

And, since no mother wants to see her children die, science must be controlled. To take up the call of science is to listen to the siren song and head directly towards the metaphorical rocks of certain doom.

Numidid scientists, before the events chronicled in The Amity Incident [coming soon!] were often disowned by their families and had to jump through hoops upon hoops of red tape in order to be able to reproduce. And even then, they were only permitted to breed. Not raise their own young.

You don’t want that scientific nonsense to catch to all your keets, after all.

Numidid scientists generally live short and danger-filled lives. And they find it interesting. They freely talk about dangerous things like they’re exciting.

Not the sort of thing your regular Numidid wants to share a cote with.