I watched an interesting program on PBS this evening...actually, I got in on the tail end...about how different mammals show their emotions and what their emotions suggest about them. I've always believed dogs smile. The program said that is true. I have always felt that the play behaviors one observes in dogs and cats and monkeys and other mammals are combinations of practice for the real world and opportunities for creatures to experience happiness and joy. According to the program (whose name I cannot remember but will have to look up in the television guide), my feelings are right. I think people can and do regularly communicate with their pets and other animals. We don't always understand one another, but we sometimes communicate. And that is good. I like to think, naively perhaps, that the ugliness of humanity does not exist in other animals. I like to think dogs don't deliberately set out in groups to kill for the sheer thrill of it. I like to think that monkeys do not deface property just because they want to do damage. I have more faith in animals, sometimes, than in people.
No reason for this post, other than I was just thinking about it all.
2 comments:
Well of course I agree, and I also think animals are far more intelligent than we can imagine. Did you know pigeons have been taught to distinguish between early period Picasso and Monet? And pigs can play video games.
I think mostly animals kill to eat. There are times when animals kill each other over territory or during mating season, and chickens do something awful to each other, hence the term pecking order. But, I don't think that there is an underlying maliciousness to animal behavior. They don't set out to kill each other for pleasure or profit. Humans are particularly weird when it comes to violent behavior.
If my cat and I are communicating, I think mostly he is telling me that I could feed him much better food. He also lets us know how much he likes sitting next to us on the couch. We are his family.
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