Whales’ve got the biggest brain. I didn’t know they use YouTube.
they have their own internet, much larger and with funny human videos every friday
There was some recent contemplation as to whether dolphins and other echolocative sort could communicate with holographic sonar… it’s still up in the air.
Orcas are, I think, the closest minds to humans of all the non-primates. They… they play with their food, and routinely kill smaller lifeforms for fun… I think we’re afraid to admit how similar we are to them, or they to us. We have all the worst traits in common.
When it comes to bonobos, we only wish we had their best traits.
I think the behavior of orcas is defensible, though. The sea is some pretty hostile place to call home. We should GM them for increased intelligence so humanity doesn’t feel so alone. I mean, if it backfires, they can’t exactly take up arms and rebel… unlike octopodes…
shudders
You’re giving lions far too little credit. They surely give a lot of thought…[indent]How meaty is that thing… seems pretty tender… is it fast? With those juicy legs, I doubt it… is there anywhere it could dart to? No burrows or anything like that? How is this thing still alive !!![/indent]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cetacean_intelligence
I do believe that most people because of the lack of education and lack of getting out of the house and spending time in a truly natural organic environment loose the ability to appreciate the wonders of life.
Human beings have separated themselves from nature when we are truly apart of it.
Ooh, subtle…
I like subtle humor so I’m going to assume it’s intentional and refuse to believe otherwise.
Octopuses are smarter though. We just haven’t developed the proper tests to gauge how much more so.
There’s a difference between killing an animal for food, and keeping them alive in a small, confined areas for the amusement of the general public.
If I had any say in it, I’d close down any place that has live, wild animals on display. I’d force farms to keep the well-being of the animals in mind (don’t put 20 chickens in a tiny cage, don’t use stunguns on cows, whatever). I’d force the Chinese to stop trying to prevent pandas from going extinct and just let nature do its job (the retarded bear refuses to reproduce and eats stuff that its body can’t even digest… They just want to end their pathetic lives).
Animal cruelty should be rewarded with lenghty imprisonment equal to what a human would get for intentionally hurting and/or killing another human being.
I, just a few moments ago, ran over my cat’s tail with the caster wheels of my computer chair. He yelped and ran.
Now he’s back with his tail right by the caster wheels again.
They’re not meant to be in there. We punish people by locking them up, why do we punish those animals?
No. Straight to the showers with you.
Naw, there’s a difference between accidentally hurting an animal or a human. Accidents happen, but you don’t go “oh look a cat, time to curbstomp her”, or “a cat! run her over with my chair!”. And then there’s this:
The worst part is that there’s a high chance that the parents put down the cat, instead of the child.
As soon as I did it, I heard GLaDOS in my head saying, “Here are the test results: You are a horrible person. That’s what it says. We weren’t even testing for that.”
As for zoos, I don’t see a lot of them as being imprisoned. My cat (when I’m not running over his tail with my computer chair or tripping over him when he’s entwining himself around my legs) is not imprisoned in my apartment, is he? Is he being punished?
He’s never been outside except for when he’s to go to the vet and then he’s in a cat carrier.
Domestic animals have been bred to live as companions with humans. They have been for thousands and thousands of years, slowly losing their wild instincts and as such, one could argument that their natural habitat these days, is the cosy home of a human.
None of the animals in zoos are domestic, though. They’re not even being kept as companions. They’re locked up in a small area that somewhat resembles their natural habitat, but they don’t have freedom, can’t be their wild selves. Sure, one could say that they’re not being trained to perform tricks and that they’re getting plenty of food and are taken proper care of, but that doesn’t change the fact that those animals aren’t where they’re supposed to be.
Then again… Nearly all of the animals kept in zoos these days, were born in captivity, so I guess that closing the current generation of zoos wouldn’t matter all that much anyway.
So yea, you’re probably right, closing the zoos now would be silly.
Private zoos, however… Pay lots of money to have some Thai bastard shoot a mother orangutan out of a tree and get the baby to be part of his evergrowing ego.
In that there’s very little chance of that.
And then put it on the internet?
Nah… they love the cat and were happy with the lesson their kid got. I call it a parenting-win instead of a parenting-fail.
when my little sister used to torture my cat, he never once fought back or even made a hiss, growing up with me made him strong
I could watch Bolteh’s video over and over.
Zoos serve a purpose aside from our own amusement. A lot - a lot - of animal research goes on in zoos. And that research can benefit both humans and other animals. If there were no zoos, there wouldn’t be any research; it’s pretty hard to observe animals in their natural environment.
It’s pretty hard, but not impossible. Behavioral research seems to work just fine in Africa… Africa of all places!
Unless you’re talking about testing on animals.
Which is easier and more cost-effective: observe animals in an enclosure, rent a jeep and a crew and cruise around the savannah shooting animals with tranquilizer darts then tagging them and keeping track of them with fucking satellites.
I don’t know, but I do know which one is more fun.
Speaking of private collectors, some guy who had his own personal zoo that he kept just outside Columbus, OH, let all his animals loose, and then shot himself. In order to control the situation, residents and local authorities ended up killing over 30 exotic animals, including grizzly bears, Bengal tigers, lions, panthers, and monkeys. There was one with Hep.B that hadn’t even been located until last week. The majority of the animals were killed rather than captured. I think that’s more of an issue than SeaWorld would ever be.
Zoos also serve a role in preserving endangered species. Currently, AFAIK, one of the zoos in Seoul holds the only 3 Korean tigers alive on this Earth.