Sunday, January 08, 2006
Why Are Humans Special? (3)
Well, let's look at a few ways we are not special... What are some behaviors that you might think are done just by humans?
Farming -- Nope, ants do this. Leaf-cutter ants cut pieces of leaves and return them to chambers in the nest. They plant fungus on them, grow the fungus, then harvest it later for food.
Build Structures -- Oh, come on! Lots of animals build all sorts of structures: bird nests, beaver dams and lodges, stickleback nests, spider webs, butterfly and moth cocoons, the list goes on and on.
Ranching -- Ants do this too. They tend aphids, move them to new areas, protect them from predation, and milk them (getting a sugary solution from their butts).
Singing and Dancing -- Actually, exceedingly common among animals, especially for territorial displays and in courtship.
Warfare -- As you might expect, ants do this. Pretty easy to demonstrate; put ants from one colony in a jar and drop them at another colony, then watch the carnage.
Art -- Bowerbird males certainly produce art. They decorate an area to attract a female, gathering items of particular colors (shells, stones, flower petals, etc.) and carefully arrange them along the display area. They will sometimes place an item, stand back to look at it, then move it to a different location. There are often marked differences in the artistic styles of different males.
Slavery -- Ants again. Some ants will raid other nests, stealing babies (uh, larvae) and carrying them back to their own nest. When reared with the pheromones of the new nest, the slave ants dutifully carry out work for the slavers, even though they have no relationship to the queen.
Masturbation -- Hah! Have you ever been to the Primate House of the Zoo? You usually needn't wait long before you can observe human parents hastily covering the eyes of their children, as the monkeys and apes satisfy themselves.
Cannibalism -- Not that uncommon among animals, especially eating the young. And you all know of spiders and praying mantises in which the females eat the males after mating. However, I don't know of any ritual cannibalism among animals, so perhaps only humans do that (at communion).
Virgin birth -- More common among animals than humans, apparently. In fact, there are some populations of lizards that contain only females, so that all births are virgin births (parthenogenesis).
Homosexuality -- Very, very common among animals; not an un-natural act at all! For an excellent survey, see Biological Exuberance, by Dr. Bruce Bagemihl. He gives examples of more than 450 species that engage in same-sex sexual activity. There are even cases of lifelong homosexual bonding in species that do not have lifelong heterosexual bonding. It does appear that homosexuality is more common as you look at "more advanced" animals (I don't believe in that terminology, but lots of people do think birds and mammals are more advanced that reptiles, fish, insects, etc.).
Rape -- Interestingly, rape is not even physically possible in many species, perhaps most. For example, in most insects the female must willingly position her reproductive organs in a specific way, or it is impossible for the male to impregnate her. But there are some animals that can and do rape, including ducks and the beloved dolphins. So one might ask, why has rape been made possible in humans? God's choice? Evolutionary advantage?
Murder -- When some male animals achieve social dominance, supplanting a previous alpha-male, they may systematically murder all the children present, so that there are none of the previous male's offspring around to carry those genes, and to bring the females into a receptive state faster. Lions, bears and apes do this, among others.
Storing food for the future -- Squirrels bury nuts and acorns, butcherbirds impale prey on thorns so they can return to it later, wasps fill a hole with paralyzed prey that their young will one day feed upon.
Praying -- Of course, I can't know if animals do this. Charles Hartshorne suspected a spiritual element in bird song, and some have even speculated that whales songs might be poetry or prayer. My hunch is that only people pray, and say grace before meals, at least on this planet.
Use of symbolic language -- We know that chimps, gorillas and dolphins can do this. Some of the best of the apes have learned a large amount of sign language. Apparently some experiments with African Grey parrots also indicate their ability to learn and understand symbols.
Farming -- Nope, ants do this. Leaf-cutter ants cut pieces of leaves and return them to chambers in the nest. They plant fungus on them, grow the fungus, then harvest it later for food.
Build Structures -- Oh, come on! Lots of animals build all sorts of structures: bird nests, beaver dams and lodges, stickleback nests, spider webs, butterfly and moth cocoons, the list goes on and on.
Ranching -- Ants do this too. They tend aphids, move them to new areas, protect them from predation, and milk them (getting a sugary solution from their butts).
Singing and Dancing -- Actually, exceedingly common among animals, especially for territorial displays and in courtship.
Warfare -- As you might expect, ants do this. Pretty easy to demonstrate; put ants from one colony in a jar and drop them at another colony, then watch the carnage.
Art -- Bowerbird males certainly produce art. They decorate an area to attract a female, gathering items of particular colors (shells, stones, flower petals, etc.) and carefully arrange them along the display area. They will sometimes place an item, stand back to look at it, then move it to a different location. There are often marked differences in the artistic styles of different males.
Slavery -- Ants again. Some ants will raid other nests, stealing babies (uh, larvae) and carrying them back to their own nest. When reared with the pheromones of the new nest, the slave ants dutifully carry out work for the slavers, even though they have no relationship to the queen.
Masturbation -- Hah! Have you ever been to the Primate House of the Zoo? You usually needn't wait long before you can observe human parents hastily covering the eyes of their children, as the monkeys and apes satisfy themselves.
Cannibalism -- Not that uncommon among animals, especially eating the young. And you all know of spiders and praying mantises in which the females eat the males after mating. However, I don't know of any ritual cannibalism among animals, so perhaps only humans do that (at communion).
Virgin birth -- More common among animals than humans, apparently. In fact, there are some populations of lizards that contain only females, so that all births are virgin births (parthenogenesis).
Homosexuality -- Very, very common among animals; not an un-natural act at all! For an excellent survey, see Biological Exuberance, by Dr. Bruce Bagemihl. He gives examples of more than 450 species that engage in same-sex sexual activity. There are even cases of lifelong homosexual bonding in species that do not have lifelong heterosexual bonding. It does appear that homosexuality is more common as you look at "more advanced" animals (I don't believe in that terminology, but lots of people do think birds and mammals are more advanced that reptiles, fish, insects, etc.).
Rape -- Interestingly, rape is not even physically possible in many species, perhaps most. For example, in most insects the female must willingly position her reproductive organs in a specific way, or it is impossible for the male to impregnate her. But there are some animals that can and do rape, including ducks and the beloved dolphins. So one might ask, why has rape been made possible in humans? God's choice? Evolutionary advantage?
Murder -- When some male animals achieve social dominance, supplanting a previous alpha-male, they may systematically murder all the children present, so that there are none of the previous male's offspring around to carry those genes, and to bring the females into a receptive state faster. Lions, bears and apes do this, among others.
Storing food for the future -- Squirrels bury nuts and acorns, butcherbirds impale prey on thorns so they can return to it later, wasps fill a hole with paralyzed prey that their young will one day feed upon.
Praying -- Of course, I can't know if animals do this. Charles Hartshorne suspected a spiritual element in bird song, and some have even speculated that whales songs might be poetry or prayer. My hunch is that only people pray, and say grace before meals, at least on this planet.
Use of symbolic language -- We know that chimps, gorillas and dolphins can do this. Some of the best of the apes have learned a large amount of sign language. Apparently some experiments with African Grey parrots also indicate their ability to learn and understand symbols.
# posted by Atrox @ 10:25 PM 
