Perhaps people are just so busy trying to find ways to separate
themselves from "animals" so they can find means of feeling superior that they
blind themselves from any shred of possible truth. They busy themselves far
too much with finding ways of degrading any animals intelligence, picking it
apart to nothing, so they may continue feeling safe and secure with their own
minds.
Don't you find it strange, how when an animal protects its mate it's
instinct, but when a man steps between his girlfriend and a potential threat,
he's just being smart and protective.
How when a human forages for food, they are being resourceful, but when an
animal does...it's pure instinct...just plain foraging...nothing important at
all.
When a mother bear protects her cub, she's an out of control beast that
needs to be slaughtered, yet a man who tries to kill the cub is human and not
punished, and a mother who kills a man defending her child is a brave and
wonderful mother indeed and let go.(go mother, but still, why should the bear
be punished for doing the exact same deed? Stay the heck out of her territory,
stay away from the cub, and we're all happy.)
When animals copulate and pair up, they are just running off instinct,
pairing up to continue the species, but with human beings its love, affection,
dedication. Yet we've seen with geckos (for the group) and various other
species of animals out there that they pair up for life and display affection
(Nuzzling, cuddling, etc Heck, that's more affection then some human couples
display). Often starving themselves to death and going into depression when
their mate dies. But oh no, that isn't emotion, that isn't depression, how
could the animal be intelligent enough to realise it's mate has passed on for
good? But wouldn't an animal who runs purely off of instinct know that to
continue the species it needs to pick a new partner...so ...hmmm...that kind
of makes me question things now doesn't it.
We find it hard to find reasons to explain how instinct plays a part in an
animals behaviour when it basically kills itself when its mate dies. We avoid
any reason that could remotely be that "Hey, maybe it DID have an attachment
to its mate". Hell I've seen FISH get depressed over a missing buddy, Oscars
(A massive south american cichlid) I've seen pout for weeks on end when it's
buddy is taken away. How does it pout? It just sits back in the bottom corner
of the tank, not going anywhere, not even eating...
Is it that hard to conceive that they may actually have an intelligence
that is very similar to ours and even be capable of emotion or attachment?
If anything, throw a human in the middle of nowhere and see how they
survive, along with an animal...who do you think will adapt better?
Without our gadgets, we're nothing but flesh and bones, vulnerable to the
elements. Most of the human population would panic without technology, we've
even seen the chaos that took over when people though Y2K was an issue, when
we have massive power outages, etc. People go nuts (And can you say we are any
better then a beast when during these horrible times humans rape and pillage,
robing every store, breaking into houses like mad, attacking each other etc)!
We have no idea what to do with ourselves during times of technological
crisis (I mean the average person, not you wild life buffs...Orion, you don't
count. I'm sure you could survive JUST fine on your own.)...meanwhile, animals
are figuring out what to do on their own while their owners freak out about
the lights going off.
(After all, with the lights out, who's going to notice Rover stealing the
roast beef?)
Anyways, moving along, about the person who knocked birds for flying into
windows or whatever (I was rushing out when I read it). For crying out loud,
I've seen humans walk into well washed glass doors...so let's not even go
there, and humans KNOW what a glass door is. How the heck is a wild bird
supposed to know what it is until it's too late. Captive birds learn and know
what it is, my birds are very much aware of the windows and mirrors in the
home.
Further on avian intelligence, look up Alex the african
grey. Seeing there's a parrot that has learned how to communicate his
wants and needs, identify materials, shapes, colours, which is bigger or
smaller, and count to a certain level....you've got one smart feathered friend
there. Seeing he's "average intelligence" for an African grey...that's got to
say something. Sure he's a parrot, but I've seen crows bend pieces of metal to
fish food out of a bottle before. They weren't taught to do it either (btw, it
was the female crow, the male got frustrated...just had to point that out
=P!).
I guess I'm a bit touchy there since I do believe my parrots have brains
since they've shown some pretty obvious signs of it in my mind. My mischievous
conure has outsmarted a few people, and my macaw asks questions often, and not
from repetition since I don't sit and repeat to him. He'll ask me what
something is if it's new and he wants to know, ask me what I'm doing if I'm
doing something strange he's not used to, and he'll tell ME I'm good when I've
done something he likes.
I even had a horse who outsmarted every stable hand he met, and he'd jump
the fence of his paddock often, so they put electric wiring over the top so it
would shock him if he jumped...so...he dug UNDER the fence. He didn't run away
either, he just wanted to prove a point. He was found grazing just nearby the
paddocks, he didn't let a single person catch him until I got there, whistled
him over and brought him into the barn. Now there's one cheeky quarter horse
for ya.... (I raised him right ;p)
Now I've rambled, I'm sure I've ruffled feathers, and sorry if you take
offence to my opinion and experiences. To be honest, I don't give a darn about
the "science" aspect of all this. Sometimes...you just have to follow what
your heart tells you and not what some stuck up lab coat wrote on a piece of
paper (though I admit Alex is in a science lab, but the scientist herself is
an open minded individual, who won't rape every sign of intelligence the bird
displays to some degrading explanation of how it isn't intelligence at
all....argh..that made no sense...) I seriously need to get to bed�.good
night.
-PC
