Posted on 08/28/2014 7:23:34 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
The mind of an animal is a far richer, more complex thing than most people know as a new TIME book reveals.
Lets be honest, youd probably rather die than wake up tomorrow morning and find out youd turned into an animal. Dying, after all, is inevitable, and theres even a certain dignity to it: Shakespeare did it, Einstein did it, Galileo and Washington and Twain all did it. And you, someone who was born a human and will live your life as a human, will end your life that way too.
But living that life as an animal an insensate brute, incapable of reason, abstraction, perhaps even feeling? Unthinkable. Yes, yes, the animals dont recognize the difference, and neither would you. If youre a goat, you possess the knowledge of a goat, and that cant be much. But theres more to it than that.
Human beings have always had something of a bipolar relationship with the millions of other species with which we share the planet. We are fascinated by them, often dazzled by them. They can be magnificently beautiful, for one thing: the explosive color and frippery of a bird of paradise, the hallucinatory variety of the fish in a coral reef, the otherworldly markings and architecture of a giraffe. Even the plain or ugly animals consider the naked, leathery grayness of the rhino or elephant have a certain solidity and equipoise to them. And to see an animal at what appears to be play the breaching dolphin, the swooping raptor is to think that it might be fun to have a taste, a tiny taste, of their lives....
(Excerpt) Read more at time.com ...
“I saw a buck with his harem on the top of a rise grazing at sunrise. I looked at the peaceful scene and could not shoot.”
Good bucks really are magnificent and beautiful. In Virginia, we have a liberal doe season so I take all I can. I’ve killed close to 40 deer and only one had antlers. I hunt for meat so the doe is better all around.
I’m very sorry for your loss. Prayers up....
Prayers for you and your Baby Kitten. I know what that feels like.
There's a lady FReeper here in Michigan that has a pet snapping turtle that does the same thing. I hope she still has it.....She's had it since it was just a little snapper.
I'm rough and I'm rowdy, I'm tough and I'm smart,
But I have a tender heart
My cat’s typical thoughts over the course of a typical day:
I need to be let out.
I’ll go patrol the back yard.
I need a nap in the sun.
I’ll patrol the front yard now.
I need a nap in the shade.
I need to be let back in.
I need some canned food.
I need to be let back out.
Why does the human always feel the need to pet me before letting me out?
I need another nap.
The human is working in the yard. I’ll follow him around and watch what he’s doing.
I need to go back in.
Why don’t the humans ever let me outside at night?
The human is trying to sleep. Maybe I can help him by insisting on getting my head rubbed...
My condolences on your loss today,Patriot365. When I suddenly lost my horse last year, I was deep in sorrow. He was well one day and the next morning incapacitated and had to have an emergency euthanization. I had deep grief over this sudden loss of my best friend. I can visit his grave everyday if I want to. I put flowers on it everyday for a very long time. He was my once in a lifetime special horse. I have a new horse now, and I am trying to built a bond, but it is not the same. I don’t think it can be.
“Not harvesting them is cruel to the general population.”
Yes, I understand what you are saying. The problem now is that I am a decrepit, old man with other health issues. I am no longer physically capable of going hunting. However, I still do fish. I know that I have to keep the speckled trout and redfish population down so that they will grow larger! ;-)
“No, you stopped hunting because it was/is NOT absolutely necessary to do so to survive. You, and I, can do our hunting and gathering on aisles 4,6,8 and 12 of Kroger.”
Of course, you are completely correct. If push came to shove and I would be placed in a position of having to hunt for food then the ‘soft’ side of me would disappear and I would gladly hunt again. ;-)
Sorry to hear about your loss.
“I read that an adult cat has about the same IQ as a human toddler.”
Studies have been done and the conclusions of the studies is that both cats and dogs are ‘arrested-in-childhood’ or, as you say, ‘toddlers’.
I didn’t draw an extra doe tag this year here in Montana. Got two nice bucks hanging around and showing no fear. Turns out the new neighbor, from California, has been feeding them. Doesn’t want anyone shooting HIS deer.
Dickhead doesn’t realize feeding deer causes unnatural concentrations and brings in the mountain lions and wolves. Pissing me off even though otherwise he is pretty conservative. Been debating calling Fish and Game on him.
So I’ll either shoot an out of the area buck when he comes cruising through, or take a doe. I’ve got enough antlers.
Man is the only animal that hunts on a full stomach.
My dog is thinking about how to gin up excitement for another treat. :-)
Precious photos. Thanks for sharing. I’m fond of reptiles and amphibians too, but never had such a moment.
Truly sorry that Baby Kitten has left the planet.
Our dear pets always live on in memory.
I’m sorry. You will see her on the other side.
I have Alligator Lizards and Garter Snakes that live in the greenhouse. I’ve seen them laying together (really NOT eating each other), many, many times. I thought it strange but they seem to have made an agreement. They just watch as I go in and out of the greenhouse.
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