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Odd family

by bizgrower
5 replies
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I always get intrigued by animals getting along with ones you think would be their enemy:

Lion, Tiger and Bear Make for Odd, Yet Happy Family at Ga. Sanctuary - ABC News

Sad how they arrived at the sanctuary.

Dan
  • Profile picture of the author Kay King
    It's wonderful they DID arrive there.

    I think that the ordeal they went through as youngsters really bonded them together," she told ABC News. "That's all that they had. They only had each other for comfort."
    They were raised together so it makes sense.

    What doesn't make sense is assigning human priorities to them about color or differences - that's silly.

    We assume wild animals in the predator species are natural enemies because we've observed them fighting each other in the wild.

    If you have an adult cat in your home and you bring in a new adult cat or a dog - there will be arguments, growling, hissing, fighting, etc. In most cases, after a few weeks they'll get along.

    Under the right circumstances (introduced when young with interaction over years) the same may be true of wild species. What a neat trio they are!
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Animals don't just attack each other because of dislike - they attack because they have to eat, and they protect their young. When an animal is well fed without hunting they are much less likely to keep aggressive tendencies....other than when they have kids to watch out for. If the food was cut off in that shelter - those little guys wouldn't be so kewl with each other.
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

      Animals don't just attack each other because of dislike - they attack because they have to eat, and they protect their young. When an animal is well fed without hunting they are much less likely to keep aggressive tendencies....other than when they have kids to watch out for. If the food was cut off in that shelter - those little guys wouldn't be so kewl with each other.
      Yeah. Unfortunately, animals have instincts stronger than their emotions.

      Can higher animals feel love? I think so. They form social bonds. But if you run away from a lion, it will chase you.....even if it's a pet.

      And if an animal (even a dog that we love) thinks you are taking away its food...it will growl.

      When I was a kid, we had a dog that we all loved. It was a great dog.
      When I fed it, I couldn't sit next to the dog when it was eating, because it would growl. Even though I was the one feeding it.

      When my dad fed the dog, and sat next to it...the dog would back away from the dish. Why? Because, to our dog, my dad was the leader of the pack...and we were not.

      And all this playing between species is wonderful, and fun to watch. But give them a week without food.

      Heck, give us a week without food, and alliances will start to crumble.
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      • Profile picture of the author Dan Riffle
        Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

        Heck, give us a week without food, and alliances will start to crumble.
        If I'm ever a week without food, I'm going to drive over to Wooster and see what's in your fridge.
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  • Profile picture of the author bizgrower
    It IS wonderful they arrived there.

    I adopted a 5 year old very, very gentle female
    sheperd/husky/possible wolf mix and brought her home
    to my 15 year old male cat. They never cuddled or played,
    but never fought - even from day one. They did get to the
    point where they would greet each other by sniffing noses
    when I came home with the dog. When the cat died, the dog
    definitely knew something was up and Sasha looked around
    for ET for several days after he was put down.

    The Liger and Tiglon phenomena was not in my mind when I posted.
    Liger - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
    Not that it's a love thing, but it means lions and tigers don't
    automatically try to kill each other?

    As an animal lover and layperson, I believe higher animals think and
    have emotions. It's hard for me to think it's not obvious.

    Science is only fairly recently (past ten or fifteen years or so?)
    accepting and studying that view. Crows and monkeys using
    "tools" to build stuff or get food... Tigers (or lions maybe)
    methodically hunting down prey by forming a triangle around it.
    Animals showing affection to each other or humans...

    One of my psychology professors (Temple University PhD)
    told our History of Psychology class that Skinner and many
    of his contemporaries did not think dogs had emotions or physical
    feelings. When Skinner gathered the saliva for his famous
    stimulus/response experiments, he would just stick that needle
    through their cheeks and did not think the cries meant anything.

    Now I wonder what is in Claude's fridge. hmmm

    Dan
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