Animal behavior and humans
First of, I started writing to sort my mind. It's the beginning of something I'm not sure of yet.
I need some input on value.
Does it resonate?
1.1
I remember that I used to envy hive animals as a small kid. I envied the pre-set roles in their lives, their efficiency, logical structure and altruism for each other.
Most of all I envied their fixed role on our planet, and for me in my little mind, their lack of complex human emotions and needs, like loving parents as we know it. In my mind, their way of life made more sense than the human way.
Let’s take ants for example, each ant has a particular role in the hive. They all act together as one organism to provide for all as a body, much like our cells act in our own bodies.
It might be a restricted view on life, but in chaos and uncertainty that was my childhood, I often wished to be a part of a hive.
1.2
When we think of us as animals, our basic needs are: air, water, food, heat and a safe shelter. In theory, this is all we need. Since nothing is as easy as that, of course that alone isn’t going to guarantee us a happy, full live.
We are a social species, which is why community is one of the most essential aspects in the human experience. Without relationships of any kind, it might become almost unbearable and more important, less survivable for the singular.
Beginning with our first moments on this planet we are reliant on ties with others.
Now this might be a beautiful concept, the reality is somewhat different.
These needs are there to be fulfilled, only the person responsible might not be able to fulfil it.
In 2006 in spring, on the way home from primary school, I was walking slowly and taking in all the little details of nature coming back to life after winter. There was a little trail of ants on my way, which of course fascinated me. Immediately I crouched down and watched them busily hurry around and seemingly knowing exactly what their jobs where and where they had to be. I noticed them forming different paths and remembered that I has some apple slices left in my bag. I put it down away from the main trails and slowly but surely one little ant found it. A short while later, the path became very steady.
When a clock went off in the distance, my awestruck little mind made me think of my waiting mother at home. Quickly I gathered all my belongings and hurried home.
With each step the nervousness built. One question ran through my mind.
How is her mood today?
When I stood in front of the door, my heart pounded and I wished to be anywhere but home.
With a heavy heart I rang the bell.
Instantly the door was buzzed open and I saw my fuming mother standing at the entrance of the apartment.
I was welcomed with: “You should have been here 30 minutes ago; I was about to come find you and call the police! How dare you make me worry about you like that?!”
I got a good beating and hid under my bed the rest of the day, hoping not to get in anymore trouble or be any inconvenience.
1.3
Next to the basic needs, we as a species rely on social interaction and relationship with others our own kind. There are many different kinds of interactions and for each one, some invisible social rules. Even when you might feel like you might have gotten those down, new ones will come up. The same rules might even differ location wise and can be spread wider.
These so-called norms that can be place bound, can even be observed in different kind of animals.
Some orcas for instance have been documented to wear fish carcasses on their head. There was no functional use been found, which led the scientists to believe, that orcas were able to form own unique types of norms. The lack of utility also leads to the finding, that it objectively only served an aesthetic role, in other words was a fashion trend. This behaviour was even found in another pod of orcas in another region.
Norms and other social rules have always been confusing to me. As I was brought up with a southeast Asian culture and in an evangelic reformed church body in Switzerland, the cultural clashes were vast.
Those rules always seemed to apply in different ways and situations, depending on context. The most important ones were the religious rules. They stood above anything else but even then depended on the situation one had at hand.