Friday, December 9, 2011

Rats & Cats.

always save articles for future blog posts. In an orderly fashion I set them for publication on a certain day. Once in a while an article comes along that is just so doggone interesting that I bump another article. The following article is one of those:

http://www.sciencemag.org/content/334/6061/1427.full

I am still stunned by the findings. Now only if we could get our politicians to act like rats.

Continuing the theme, another bumper article. The is bumping the other articles not because it is interesting but because it is charming:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/06/pets-save-human-lives_n_976913.html?icid=maing-grid10%7Chtmlws-sb-nb%7Cdl12%7Csec1_lnk2%7C118761

From one bumping charming animal story to another one:

http://news.yahoo.com/cats-26-toes-help-boost-milwaukee-animal-shelter-080754594.html

Comment Away


QUOTE

Yesterday's quote was authored by Denise Levertov. "The soul can split the sky in two, and let the face of God shine through", was authored by a woman who lived from 1892 to 1950. A poet of the first half of the 20th century, wrote of personal freedom including sexual freedom, nature, an unconventional religious mysticism, and death. She was an American lyrical poet, playwright and feminist. She received the Pulitzer Prize for SPoetry, and was known for her activism and her many love affairs. She used the pseudonym Nancy Boyd for her prose work. The poet Richard Wilbur asserted, "She wrote some of the best sonnets of the century. Who authored today's quote?

4 comments:

Pat said...

Great study on rats' social behavior! We had rats as pets years ago, and while they weren't called upon to help each other that we knew of, they were very sweet pets. These were rats that were raised with human contact from birth, so I'm not sure if others might be as sweet and friendly, but apparently they are nice to each other. {s}

Wouldn't it be great to really know the motivation and thought processes behind animals saving their humans! But understanding or not, it's wonderful that they do it so often. Cute story about Daniel and his extra toes. He's helping save the shelter, though I'm sure he doesn't know it.

Lady DR said...

You know, more and more we seem to be commenting on how nice it would be humans were as caring and compassionate as animals (and often wishing they showed as much common sense and intelligence!)

Great stories about the animals and their humans. Like Pat, I think it would be interesting to know the motivation and thought processes in our critters. For many I suspect it's a combination of love and protection of "pack" members, as it's been shown that dogs are not necessarily the only ones with a pack mentality.

William J. said...

Hi Pat

The rat study just really both shocked and amazed me. I bet the ones without human contact could be trained. The thing that amazed me the most is one rat would give up something and save it until the other rat got free.

I would love to know the motivation and thought processes behind animals whether they were saving humans or not. Just how they think. Like do we really know that Daniel doesn't know?

Bill

William J. said...

Hi DR

Boy do I ever agree with your first paragraph. Animals are just amazing us how much better they take care of each other than we do.

I think humans also have a pack mentality. Look at Congress. We just ust the pack mentality. Animals use it to protect each other. Humans use it to shut out anyone that doesn't agree with them.

Bill