Imagine being this poor buffalo calf who has been caught by a pride of lions. As if that weren't bad enough, and while still alive, it then becomes the rope in a tug-of-war contest between the hungry lions and an aggressive crocodile. Oh, but the story is not over yet... you will be truly glued to the edge of your seat as you watch the amazing ending of this suspenseful story.
That'll be one to tell the kids one day when they're bitching about how tough they have it... :)
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How can you explain this??
ReplyDeletedeferent species are not suppose to care about other species
i mean.. they don't even have religion.. :P
and how about Darwin? he said that animals create social skills for protecting their own genes against other animals..
.. oh.. i am confused ..
First, let's be clear about the fact that Darwin never said that animals create social skills for protecting their own genes, as he didn't know anything about genes (the mechanism of transmission of heritable traits).
ReplyDeleteSecond, although you are right to suggest that other species don't have religion, many of them do have superstition. The reason it does not spread itself very widely, thank goodness, is that lacking language, it is difficult to get those memes spreading throughout the population quite as readily as is the case with humans.
Third, there are countless cases in the natural world in which different species cooperate with one another. Many of these traits could have evolved because they actually do result, at least in the short-term, in net gains for the species involved (regardless of whether the species are aware of this or not).
For instance, there are some species of ants who wreak itchy havoc on elephants who attempt to eat the bark off certain trees. Obviously, the trees not being conscious, they could not have signed an agreement with the ants to provide them with nutrition in exchange for protection against hungry elephants, but because both species benefit from this behavior (usually called reciprocal altruism), it is a kind of behavior that we can expect to see flourish and become even more complex as time goes by, even to the point that one species may become consciously aware of its fondness for some other species.
I hope that clears some confusion.