From: Randy Smith (cryon@mindspring.com)
Date: Tue Apr 21 1998 - 11:41:43 MDT
On Tue, 21 Apr 1998 08:31:41 -0700 (PDT), you wrote:
>
>From: Andrew Russakoff <russakof@fas.harvard.edu>
>
>>Animals do not kill meaninglessly and aggressively.
>
>>Furthermore, animals only kill others for food or defense.
>
>These are common myths and have been dispelled by animal
>behaviorists. Many animals have been observed killing for reasons
>other than food, defense, or territory including:
>
>Numerous primates (man,chimp,baboon)
>
>Members of the cat family (lions,tigers, etc)
>
>Members of the Bear family
>
>Members of the dog family (wolfs, coyotes, and worst of all feral
>dogs)
>
>killer whales (Orca Orcannis)(sp?)
>
>snakes, especially members of the mamba.
>
>These are just the ones I remember off the top of my head. In many
>cases the observers concluded these animals killed solely to kill.
>
>This of course does not mean all of the species, all of the time.
>
>
>Brian
>Member, Extropy Institute
Yes, indeed. In fact, the old saying 'like a fox in a henhouse" would
apply here. If you go into a henhouse after a fox has been in there,
you will find all of the chickens dead and perhaps only one or two
eaten. The fox likes to kill and has it in his genes. I have seen a
panther catch a bunch of sheep in a pasture and break the necks of all
of them and eat only one.
People do idealize animals while often denigrating humans in many
ways. Chimps for example, our closest primate cousins. I have seen
videotape of chimps hunt down other monkeys and tear them apart and
eat them.
Another example of people idealizing animals is dogs: I find them to
be considerably less than human.Some years ago I worked as a cable TV
repairman, who had to go into backyards where the homeowner was not
around. This often ocassioned confrontations with territorial dogs. I
found something out: no dog will attack you if you are on guard and
facing them. Almost all territorial dogs will attack you when your
back is turned and you are moving away from them (e.g. climbing over
the fence to leave). Dogs are basically cowards, when it comes to
humans, anyway.
Randy
Cryonics: Gateway to the Future?
http://members.wbs.net/homepages/c/r/y/cryofan1.html
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