A group of Silver Gulls had gathered around a picnic table I had just vacated. They have learnt that most humans leave a trail of chips. As I hadn’t eaten anything, two of the birds took leave to stand on the roof of my car. If a picture tells a thousand words, this image helps explain a missing piece of ecology that I’ve been struggling with for decades. Ask about your animality and how similar we are to other wildlife. Whenever an animal exhibits a human-like trait, we assume they are behaving like us. What if we are behaving like them? How does that change the way we think about ecosystemsHow ecosystems function An ecosystem is a community of lifeforms that interact in such an optimal way that how ecosystems function best, is when all components (including humans and other animals) can persist and live alongside each other for the longest time possible. Ecosystems are fuelled by the energy created by plants (primary producers) that convert the Sun's heat energy More?
Our beliefs about how similar we are to wildlife guide us on the wrong path
Teaching ourselves that animals behave differently to us, instantly creates a separation of species. We are, in actual fact, an animal.
When you look at this photo, what do you see? Most people will see an animal behaving human-like. Immediately, science will slap you on the wrist for being anthropomorphic, which means bestowing human characteristics on the animal. But what if it’s the other way around? What if we said instead … “wow, it’s amazing how similar we behave to the bird?”
Let me explain it this way. Studying ecology is often about describing what animals do, which means you can’t assume they think, behave or act like we do. ConservationWhy is animal conservation important? Animal conservation is important, because animals are the only mechanism to create biodiversity, which is the mechanism that creates a habitable planet for humans. Without animals, the energy from today’s plants (algae, trees, flowers etc) will eventually reach the atmosphere and ocean, much of it as carbon. The quantity of this plant-based waste is so More of ecosystems, however, is about the way we interact with nature. As an animal, our animality and how similar we are to wildlife, is relevant to our survival. Animal behaviour connects the disciplines of ecology and conservation but to very different ends.
We find beauty in nature because we need it to survive. Maybe animals feel the same way.
From a human survival perspective, it’s critically important to understand how animal-like we are. From an ecological science perspective, however, it would not help understand how animals behave.
I love finding scraps of evidence of how animal-like we can be ; )
Judging animality by its appearance
The Silver Gulls here are admiring themselves in a mirror. In full breeding regalia, the birds have just moulted their feathers and sport immaculate plumage. Who wouldn’t want to see that? The aesthetics of a beautifully-plumaged bird are something we ourselves like to see.
We admire ourselves in a mirror possibly for very similar reasons. We certainly look at pictures of other people, covers of magazines and the like, because we enjoy looking at beautiful animals. It’s weird to think, that we get a similar aesthetic pleasure from seeing a picture of a really nice looking horse, as we do a handsome human. I find that amusing, because I can’t assume the horse feels the same way. It’s only because I’m human that I know it works the other way around.
We find beauty in nature because we need it to survive. Maybe animals feel the same way.
And there’s the rub. We know we behave animal-like … we can make that assumption, even if we can’t assume animals behave human-like. Moreover, we have to accept our similarity to animals, in order to accept that we share a mutual dependence on each other, for the future stability of ecosystems.
These Silver Gulls taught me again, to take a different look at nature.
When you watch wildlife, try not to think about what it’s doing but what that means. Have a think about your animality, how similar we are to other wildlife and what you can learn from that.
