Survival Instincts?
 

Man, the things that pass for survival instincts these days...

I'm walking down the road, and whoosh, a bird takes off.
Alright, so I surprised it...

Then from behind, whoosh.
Ok, so now I know it has a nest nearby, and in a relatively stupid place. If I were a predator, this would be bad news.
I continue along, giving the vined fence some more room.

Whoosh.
Ok, now this is silly. Perhaps if I were sniffing around for the eggs, but I'm minding my own business and have got to be past the nest by now so give it a freaking rest!

Whoosh.
Now, I've had enough. I stop and give it the evil eye... one more pass at me and you're getting a smack upside whatever I can hit.

Stupid bird... nesting in a fence with multiple dogs on one side and a major road on the other, then pissing off innocent people with useless attacks.

Re: Survival Instincts?
 

Was it a magpie? Aren't they known for that sort of behaviour?

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Re: Survival Instincts?
 

Do you wear glasses SJ? If you do, remember, other animals don't.

To a species like us, with technology and a society to care for us in the event of a major accident, the bird's attack is trivial.

But wild animals are scared. Even the remote chance of minor injury means they're defenseless for a while. And being blind in one eye is a death sentence.

Are you still going to walk there? If you just decide you don't want to be hassled, the bird's "plan" is successful. It's not "formulating a plan" for a perfect success, just doing the best it can.

See, in the old days, when you watched something like Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom or some such nature program, you always got this voice over how Nature provided animals with the Instinct to survive, and how it was always in perfect balance with their Environment.

Now we're getting a more balanced notion. This stuff is random. Like one time, lioness finds a den to give birth, as instinct dictates, it must be hidden from the rest of the pride until the cubs a strong enough for the rough and tumble of pride life. Unfortunately, she picked a spot over a spitting cobra's den. Oops. Gave birth, went to get a drink, came back, got blinded. She wandered for a couple days, injured, never found her cubs. Cubs have no instinct to look for her and starved. Whole thing was filmed, and people were up in arms about the cruel humans who didn't rescue the cubs.

[ May 26, 2004, 15:24: Message edited by: Arkcon ]

Re: Survival Instincts?
 

I know how its supposed to work, but really, a bit more discretion would be better.

Trying to scare off an otherwise clueless creature does not help things, and merely reveals the presence of the eggs to everything in the area.

And the constant cars going by and dogs barking in the yards are pretty freaking obvious... meanwhile there is a nice quiet forest/park less than 100m away.

Re: Survival Instincts?
 

That's the whole point. The constant annoyance makes it hopeless for a predator to hunt, sleep or raise it's own offspring there. Mobing a predator is common, and everyone gets into the act.

Wanna have some fun? Practice hooting like an owl until you've got it perfect. You'll know you've got it down when when they start hooting back at night. Then try hooting in the daytime, it's a great way to attact all wildlife. Crows, Jay, even squirrels will come out of the woodwork looking for the daytime active owl. They didn't have a committee meeting on the attack plan, and they're not sporting for a rumble. They just want the interloper gone, and gone for good.

Re: Survival Instincts?
 

I was reminded of this discussion today as two birds dove suicidally into the path of my car on the way home from work. Poor shtupid horny creatures.

Add that to the possum that sat, growling stubbornly underneath my car...despite engine noise, honking, and backing up over it's tail and you get buckets of animal self elimination. I had to scoop that one off the driveway with a shovel - it was gnawing at the gardening tool the entire time...still unconvinced that it was better off wandering happily in the wilds than sitting in my driveway waiting to be run over or dog-eaten...or run over and dog eaten.

I swear that these critters are nearly as dumb as people sometimes! http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon10.gif

Re: Survival Instincts?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">There's a particular street that I sometimes drive home on late at night, and there's people who suddenly dash out onto the street in front of the car, and it's very dangerous! This happens often, and when I mentioned this to a friend, he thought that those guys were trying to get hit on purpose, to try to get money from the drivers.

Re: Survival Instincts?
 

Why do cats always park themselves right where people walk?

Re: Survival Instincts?
 

At my neighbourhood Library there is a big glass window (actually 4 panes, but anyway). Practically every time I am reading nearby a bird comes along and flies into the glass. It flies off and comes back a second later. Bang.....Bang.....Bang. The Birds are just too stupid to give up.

Re: Survival Instincts?
 

Any one remember the Far Side catoon of how birds see the world? We all have bulles eyes painted on us. Especially freshely washed cars.

Re: Survival Instincts?
 

Animals, especially wild ones, don't have a human's understanding of human abilities and behaviors. They think differently.

I encountered a possum once in the middle of the sidewalk ahead of me, late at night, and decided to charge it, for fun. It turned to face me, and sat there. I was tempted to kick it fifty meters down the road, but instead just walked around it.

Humans aren't generally so smart, either. Recently here in the greater Seattle area, there was a dog (pit bull I think) which had chased a child, and a group of I think six armed police officers showed up to try to deal with it. The dog menaced them, and so, being the formidable and well-trained and brave and clever officers they are, fired several bullets at it and missed the dog, but shot one of their own party. The dog ran off and escaped that encounter.

Now, I know pit bulls are vicious, but I think their anti-dog training must be massively limited, if they think they need to resort to shooting metal bullets at a single dog that they outnumber 6:1. Not to mention accidentally hitting each other.

"Mouth rush" is not that sophisticated an unarmed combat technique, guys. There are countermoves humans can use on dogs.

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Usually the same reason they sit on newspapers or other projects people are working on - for attention.

PvK

Re: Survival Instincts?
 

Actually Ive done animal control and pit bulls arent vicious. (did you realize that 3 purebred breeds are in the PB Category?). The problem with Pit Bulls is that they are dangerous. Not quite the same thing.

The crushing pressure in a pit bulls jaws make a "bite" alot more than just a bite. It can literally be an amputation. Most of the ones Ive ever been called on were actually quite friendly. The danger was that they arent very smart. They get out of the yard and get confused and scared. Of course there are people who will use a powerful bite dog for other purposes which are the scarey ones that hit the news. Luckily I only ever met one of those. The worst thing about them for me is that they ruin my favorite tactic for large biting dogs (shove your fist down its throat)

[ June 10, 2004, 21:46: Message edited by: Gandalf Parker ]

Re: Survival Instincts?
 

Interesting. Ya for me that all falls under the police being poorly trained to deal with dogs. Ideally, of course, one dog handler with some padding is the team for the job, rather than six cops with guns who seem unable to handle one dog. Broad daylight and low foliage, by the way.

PvK

Re: Survival Instincts?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Usually the same reason they sit on newspapers or other projects people are working on - for attention.

PvK </font><hr /></blockquote><font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">And then she complains when people step over her...

Obviously hasn't learned the difference between good attention and bad attention.

Re: Survival Instincts?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">They want to think they can.

The military police always seemed embarrased at having to call me. I tried to make them feel better by saying things like "no prob, not like I ever want to handle the animals you guys handle" and I point toward the barracks area. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif

Re: Survival Instincts?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Does she hate being petted?
Try petting her with your feet. We have one that does that and its because she wants to be petted with feet. She loves it.

I was making fun of it one day. Pretending she was talking to the other cat. "Dont let them touch you with their hands! You have no idea where those have been." Then I realised that was probably true. We probably have alot more odors on our hands than on our stockinged feet.

Re: Survival Instincts?
 

Never tried that. Don't think she hates being petted, but she doesn't like very much of it.

Part of it might be that we think she got abused as a kitten. She's got a place in her spine and tail that's been fused.

Re: Survival Instincts?
 

I have a cat who will cuddle up to me if I lie on the couch. She appears to like being stroked. You stroke her for 5-10 minutes, then when she gets bored with it she shows it by swinging around and biting your hand.

Re: Survival Instincts?
 

<font size="2" face="sans-serif, arial, verdana">Ive had pets do that to me (but only once) http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/icons/icon7.gif