05-10-2008, 12:13 PM
| #41 | |
| Resident Armed Liberal   Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Southern California
Posts: 8,214
| Quote:
I've also seen dogs kill a cat for the sheer fun of it, and even other dogs. I think most animals with a hunting instinct will chase down and kill something for fun, even if they aren't hungry; the hunting instinct seems to be separate from hunger and need. I suppose it would have to be, for successful hunting species.
__________________ If a million people say a foolish thing, it is still a foolish thing. -Anatole France Last edited by troy2000; 05-10-2008 at 12:17 PM. | |
|  |
|
05-10-2008, 01:20 PM
| #42 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: May 2008
Posts: 119
| you ever seen a cat with a mouse? Mine will catch them in the yard and play with them for a long time until they die, and then he just leaves them there.
__________________ Guns don't kill people. Husbands who came home early from work do. "I'm your Huckleberry" |
|
| |
|
05-10-2008, 02:42 PM
| #43 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: I dont know, im kinda lost myself
Posts: 133
| I didnt say the ONLY animal, just one of the only animals....plus humans are more nastier when they play with their....FOOD..... |
|
| |
|
05-11-2008, 08:39 AM
| #44 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Northern Michigan
Posts: 373
| It would be interesting to see a list of all of the animals and how many people they kill in a year. It would probably change the list we have considerably.
__________________ You don't shoot to kill; you shoot to stay alive. |
|
| |
|
05-12-2008, 02:29 PM
| #45 | |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Las Vegas
Posts: 994
| Quote:
Notice this only tends to happen in very intelligent mammals, especially domesticated ones. Snakes don't kill for fun, raptorial birds don't, sharks, insects...none of them kill for what we'd perceive as "no reason". Take a look at a housecat. A well-fed cat will still hunt and kill. But watch them when they're done. They don't quite know what to do with their prey once it's dead, since they're not hungry. But the instinct to hunt is still there. As hunting behaviors become more complex, they become more divorced from the trigger of simple hunger. A dragonfly perceives hunger. It takes to the air and patrols for moving targets. It locates, attacks, then lands and feeds. Once it is no longer hungry, the activity ceases. A dragonfly will not engage in hunting behaviors if it's not hungry. It's all very mechanistic. Back to the cat. A moving, apparently living object below a certain size will trigger hunting behaviors, whether the animal is hungry or not. The neurochemical "rewards" for indulging this behavior are different than those for just eating. Anyone who's been hunting knows exactly what I'm talking about. Ever see how "proud" they look when they kill something and bring it to you? While their reaction isn't as complex as ours, it is a similar sort of emotion caused by the completion of those behaviors. So the complexity of the animal's brain matters when you think about killing "for fun". The animal has to be complex enough to be able to manifest play type behaviors. There aren't a lot of those, generally speaking. Mostly it's mammals and a few of the more intelligent birds like parrots and corvids. - Coeloptera | |
|
| |
|
05-12-2008, 02:33 PM
| #46 |
| Senior Member Join Date: Jul 2007
Posts: 267
| What I wanna know is "How does ANYONE live in Australia?" Whenever the Discovery Channel or anyone else does a 10 Deadliest Whatever list, 9 out of 10 of them are in Australia! You gotta be crazy to live there. |
|
| |
|
05-12-2008, 07:17 PM
| #47 |
  Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: a secret lab on the shores of lake titicaca
Posts: 9,432
| 10 Deadliest Animals In United States Average annual deaths caused by animals, 1992-1997 Horses 219 Deer 130* Cattle 28.4 Dogs 16 * Insects 8.4 Birds 5.2 Elephants 1.0 Tigers 0.6 Hogs 0.6 Pythons 0.5 Deer Among 10 Deadliest Animals In United States Deer pose more danger to people than almost any other animal in the United States Annually, about 130 people die each year in accidental encounters with deer, usually as the result of traffic accidents Only horses have a role in more human deaths annually, according to researchers
__________________ 1911 trumps 911 everytime! Last edited by billy; 05-12-2008 at 07:25 PM. Reason: Automerged Doublepost |
|
| |
|
05-12-2008, 11:45 PM
| #48 |
| I'll Beat You Up!   Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Everywhere you want to be.
Posts: 3,339
| More people encounter horses and deer than pythons. If I fell off a horse I'd have a really good chance of living, but if I got bitten by a snake or spit at by a poisonous tree frog I'd probably die on the spot.
__________________ Ignorantia legis neminem excusat. Ignorance of the law excuses no one. |
|
| |
|
05-13-2008, 12:29 AM
| #49 |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Kansas City, MO
Posts: 1,530
| Billy, Do you think the horses are after us for making them beasts of burden? Perhaps they are always plotting to accidentally kill us. Hmm, I think I won't be riding horses anymore. |
|
| |
|
05-13-2008, 08:56 PM
| #50 | |
| Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: a secret lab on the shores of lake titicaca
Posts: 9,432
| Quote:
KILLERS I TELL YA!
__________________ 1911 trumps 911 everytime! | |
|
| |
|
05-14-2008, 04:30 AM
| #51 | |
| Senior Member  Join Date: Jan 2008 Location: Oklahoma
Posts: 1,828
| Quote:
__________________ "Most of the troubles in the world is caused by people wanting to be important". T.S.Eliot | |
|
| |
|
05-15-2008, 08:53 AM
| #52 |
| Runnin' With The Big Dogs Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Michigan
Posts: 849
| What about a sincere monkey with a gun?  |
| |
Linear Mode
