Posted on 07/24/2004 2:58:27 PM PDT by Cracker72
I knew the offer of money was too good to be true. I am crest fallen.
LOL!
To my knowledge animals don't give each other abortions - so how come we don't imitate them in that respect?
my bunny rabbits do it. a male humps a male, a neutered female humps a male. it's a dominance thing.
My bunnies also committed incest.
Some animals commit rape. Cannibalism. Infanticide. Territorial murder.
But since it occurs in the animal kingdom, it's natural, and we shouldn't judge when people do it. Right?
Mrs VS
With regard to behavior patterns modeled by animals, but frowned upon amongst humans, it is important to remember that we now have governments to take care of these issues.
For instance, pigs savage their young, but we have the public schools; chickens practice cannibalism - we have the income tax.
The government appears to be taking the right steps now to take over sexuality from mere citizens.
Await your fate, human resources!
It's a natural act for an animal to seek sexual gratification from any source available, whether the opposite sex, the same sex, or a tree. "Any port in the time of storm?"
Will these animals want health care coverage extended to their homosexual partners, too?
LOL!! Thanks for my belly laugh of the day...
What are you? Some kind of anthropomorph?
Homosexual Activity Among Animal Researchers Stirs Fraudulent Debate
just so it doesn't stir mass-debate...
My Brother's now deceased big dopy mutt used to eat cat poop out of the litter box.. Trying to justify behaviors by looking at animals is bad enough. Reading things into animal behavior when there is no way to verify what the animal is thinking or why it is acting is beyond irresponsible. One wonders if these people started out with their conclusion - it very much appears so.
So I guess it's OK for me to round up a few women against their will, copulate with them, and beat to a pulp any male that comes in my territority. Heck, the male elephant seal does that, why not me?
Our neutered alpha female terrier humps our son but never me. Thanks for finally explaining why. Other than that, she has a tendency to go for the neighbors' kneecaps, and pick fights with neighborhood dogs of all genders and sizes...
(Any application to recent events at the DNC convention are purely conjectural at this point in time... ;-)
Well, you may be at the top, but she sees your son's spot in the pecking order as attainable or below her own... If it is minor and the dog is not overly possessive of food and toys, it will outgrow itself.
I don't know how old your son is, but it would be good to actively reverse this perceived pecking order, perhaps have your son work on a little leash or obedience training with the dog. MUST be your son doing the training and not you. It is probably more of a game, but if she is a very alpha or very possessive dog as well, you could end up with trouble or challenges with your son around feeding time or toys if you don't.
Excellent explanation. I have only one point of divergence from it: The type of social dominance vs. submissive behavior described in the Bonobo monkeys is not about sex at all. It's about power and status in the troupe. Power and status are constantly being tested by younger animals, and shifts as animals age or become sick and injured.
Although it takes a form of physical expression we humans consider to be intimate contact, to the monkeys it's not intimate whatsoever.
And that's the point: We humans primarily use vocal and written speech to communicate with one another. Most other species use touch, body language and vocalizations.
Other animals that live in social groups have similar behaviors which take different forms of physical expression. For example, dominant wolves will snarl and growl at subservient wolves. The latter will tuck their tails and, when necessary, lay down on their backs and offer the dominant wolf their neck and belly. Both males and females do this for the alpha male and alpha female. If we humans choose to apply our own sexual viewpoints to that behavior, we can certainly see homosexual overtones in it. But it's nothing of the kind.
In pet dogs, some individuals will attempt to hump humans. Most people assume this to be abberrant sexual behavior. In fact, it's nothing of the kind. It's dominance behavior. The dog is not trying to mate with the person, but to bully the person.
They mention ostriches without telling the whole truth. In that species, male ostriches raise the young, and two or more males may band together to protect their babies.
It's the opposite in elephants, which are a matriarchal species. Elephants constantly touch and reassure one another. I have no doubt that, should a researcher choose to see it that way, some gestures among a band of females could seem homosexual to human sensibilities.
In short, if a researcher goes out deliberately looking for what humans consider to be homosexual behavior, they can easily find examples — even though it isn't such behavior at all.
Our son is a teenager so guess whose job it has fallen to walk the dog every day. I sometimes tend to think that our son is the untrainable problem (not the dog). In my view, getting humped on the leg every once in a while is his just punishment for not diligently walking her.
Now that I know what it really signifies, maybe I'll rub it in a bit by telling him... ;-)
ROTFL!
Well, if he's a teenager, at least you aren't needing to be concerned about him getting hurt... The training wouldn't hurt though, the dog or the kid!
;-) <-- potential government researchers please take note
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.