Animal Behaviors
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Anyone with a pet has witnessed strange domestic animal behavior at some point. We are taught a very basic view of animal psychology in school, but it is often mistaken. We are told that animals have a very rudimentary way of understanding the world, but the animal behaviors we see everday contradict this. Cats, for
example, crave our attention. They can do very human things like sitting down in your lap the moment you need to get to work in order to distract you. Whatever the scientists say, every cat lover knows that felines have their own personalities.
Dog animal behavior can also be quite fascinating and unusual. Everyone knows that dogs get into fights from time to time, but many people don't realize that dogs also make up after those fights. Animal behaviors can be so much like human behaviors that it is sometimes hard to believe. For example a dog who has just won a fight with another dog will sometimes make peace by rolling over on its back in order to demonstrate that it doesn't want to totally dominate the other dog. Sometimes when dogs are wrestling, you'll also see these sorts of animal behaviors. A bigger dog will roll over on his back for a smaller one as a way to keep the smaller dog playing. That way, the little dog feels like he has accomplished something, and the big dog gets to keep a playmate.
It is tempting to see this domestic animal behavior as anomalous, but anybody who has spent any time watching nature documentaries knows this isn't true. Some animal behaviors can be learned from humans, but animals in the wild also show complex social structures. Not only do they fight amongst themselves and display animal mating behavior, but they also socialize in very complicated ways. Monkeys and apes groom each other, relax together, and even seem to gossip in a primitive way. Even turtles are social animals. If you have ever canoed around an area with lots of turtles on a sunny day, you may see them sunning themselves one on top of the other.
It is also worth noticing the animal behaviors that are sort of, well, animalistic. To me, the best kinds of animals to look at for this sort of behavior are birds. Birds have elaborate ritualistic dances or actions for almost everything. They move around in rhythmic ways for mating dances, use certain calls to warn other birds who have invaded their territories, and puff themselves up while moving their heads back and forth as a way to scare off potential predators or rivals.
