I do love a mystery and a challenge.
Since my last post I've spoken to three
professors who study animal behavior for a
living. I've shared the original post and responses with them.
All three support my hypothesis and my premise. Animals-even those with
high levels of intelligence- DO NOT have
a concept of life or death; certainly not as
humans view it. They all warned of our tendency to anthropomorphize (make human) their behavior. That, by the way, is what PETA and Disney have done to the detriment of
everyone.
They all agree that animals function on a
largely programmed basis. That is not to
imply they cannot learn. They can and do.
But they TEND to act upon instinct, coupled
with learned behavior.
Reason would tell one that the
buck was not burying the dead doe since that is
human based ritualistic behavior. Rather,
the buck "sensed" something was wrong. The
doe's behavior was not (and here I want to be careful) "normal". The buck was, as I
speculated earlier, merely trying to encourage the doe to return to its normal
behavior..call it "herd" or "group" behavior.
After a period of time, the buck returned to
its routine; feeling no grief nor emotional
loss.
Can one relate anecdotes about animal behavior which would ,seemingly, give them
human traits? Certainly! The "Gorillas in the Mist" type of scenario where mamma gorilla
holds her dead baby to her breast, seemingly
grieving, would be an example. If one watches what mamma gorilla does thirty minutes later however,
one finds her behaving like a gorilla.
I specifically asked the professors about
learned behavior. They all agreed that animals
do learn to avoid pain. They learn what can
hurt them. Remember, survival is one of the
most basic of instincts. But avoidance behavior does NOT imply they have a concept
of death.
Let me make a human comparison. Between ages
birth and about five, humans have no concept
of death. Humans do have an instinct for
survival. By-in-large animal intelligence is
similar. It is based upon need and
certain learned behavior. It is NOT based
upon higher cognative thinking.
I have gone to the effort to reasearch, and taken the time to share, this because the
subject is facinating. I would like to see
the thread continue,
My purpose for posting is more for my own education than to get into a flaming contest about who spends more
time outdoors or who has watched the latest
"Animal Planet" tripe.
I have, as have many of you, dedicated a sig-
nificant portion of my adult life to learning about animals
and their behavior. I am eager to continue
my education.
Hope this post isn't too long.
It is an interesting topic.
Thanks......Sport
[This message has been edited by Sport (edited November 10, 2000).]