In a rare case that was recorded for the first time, a female panther, the mother of her own nine chicks, adopted orphaned chicks located in another nest, 3.5 kilometers away,
It turns out that nature also contains small gestures of humanity - in a rare case that was recorded for the first time, a female sphincter, the mother of her own nine cubs, adopted orphaned cubs located in another nest, 3.5 kilometers away, whose mother was run over on the Sergel road earlier this month. "It turns out that nature is not as cruel as we tend to think," said Dr. Moti Charter of the Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology who first discovered and documented the unique adoption.
The whole story came to light when Dr. Charter, who in his post-doctoral work at the university investigates breathing behavior in different regions of Israel, was driving on the Sergel road in the Jezreel Valley and spotted a female breathing girl on the side of the road who had been killed by a car. Dr. Charter noticed that the dead bird wore an identification ring on its leg, which allowed him to find in the database information about the bird's age, origin and nesting site. Unfortunately, Charter discovered that the female that had been killed was the mother of seven chicks. For the most part, in a case where one of the parents is killed, the chicks' doom is decided, since each chick consumes between two and three rodents a day - a task that a single parent would have difficulty meeting. However, it turns out that even within such a long-standing study, there are still occasional surprises.
When Dr. Charter came to check the nesting box in question, he found to his great surprise all seven orphaned chicks intact and healthy, with an adoptive female bird next to them, who, together with their biological father, fed them vigorously. Upon examination, it turned out that the adoptive bird was also wearing an identification ring, which revealed that she also has nine chicks of her own, which are in the nest 3.5 kilometers away from her new home. According to him, even though this is a rare phenomenon, it is known that sparrows may leave their nest when the chicks are big enough, and entrust their care to the father in order to start another nesting cycle with a new partner, but this only happens when the chicks are big enough and the mother's departure does not endanger the their lives According to him, the current case is the first documentation of its kind of a female who left in order to adopt other chicks, at the price of risking her own chicks. Observations he made together with Kobi Mirom, a researcher of respiration from the Society for the Protection of Nature, and the person who placed the ring on the leg of the adoptive respiration, revealed that the adoptive mother did not neglect her biological chicks and they were also healthy, whole and satisfied.
"Sometimes, we tend to attribute human qualities to animals, and here we have a tangible example of that," said Dr. Charter. "After the biological mother died, I was terribly worried, but in the end breathing taught me that nature is not as cruel as we tend to think. Despite everything, it seems that we still have something to learn even from breathing."
In addition to his post-doctoral work, under the guidance of Prof. Ido Itzhaki from the Department of Evolutionary and Environmental Biology, Dr. Charter serves as the scientific coordinator of the national project for the use of respiration as a biological exterminator of rodents in agriculture. This unique project is a collaboration between the university, Tel Aviv University, the Society for the Protection of Nature, the Dokifat Foundation, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The purpose of the project is to encourage farmers to use inhalations as predators of harmful rodents in their fields, as a substitute for the use of polluting pesticides. A pair of ants that take care of the chicks, preys on an average of 2000-6000 rodents per year, and therefore serves as an effective ecological exterminator, which has almost no negative environmental impact. Today, more than 3000 nesting boxes are scattered throughout the country.
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skeptic,
Indeed, the matter of the functioning of the brains is a problematic point in the development I presented. I also do not understand this deeply enough (I have never analyzed and examined animal brains), and in the information available in the literature there are many different explanations. It was possible to completely forgo adding the subject of minds and leave the theory I presented as it is. It is enough to wonder deeply about the question of how an animal like a dog, which in nature is a ferocious predator, can be so friendly/loyal/joyful and a host of qualities that a dog has. Could it be that we humans taught him all this? I do not think so. His nature contains this possibility. He simply grows up in an environment where these qualities can be expressed, because they are not pushed aside by the survival functions.
flint
You made a mistake about the brains. All animals, let's say at least fish and above, have a brain called the "big brain" and it includes, among other things, two components: the limbic system and the cortex, the limbic system is also sometimes called the crocodile brain and is mainly responsible for managing emotions, the cortex is responsible for analyzing the rational reality of the animal and the actions The rationality that the animal does. These two systems work in conjunction with each other and in coordination with each other however. The difference between the animals is mainly in the complexity of the cortex, intelligent animals have a larger and more developed cortex.
Thank you very much for the interesting article.
Many times we read about cases of "humane" behavior of animals: dolphins that saved the lives of divers, a lioness that adopted an abandoned cub, an elephant and a sheep that became best friends, and so on. These are not cases created artificially by the intervention of humans, but cases that occur in nature. And the sheet is too short to list all the examples.
The question then arises, what is the nature of the animals?
The common perception is that the nature of animals is "animalistic", that is, focused on survival. The meaning of this is that the nature of animals is based solely on the needs of self-feeding, culture and defense.
In this article I would like to present a broader view of the nature of animals.
Nowadays, brain research recognizes that we do not have one brain, but several brains integrated into each other, where each brain has a different "nature" or "specialty". The first brain is the reptilian brain, common to us and all animals, and it is the one responsible for our survival functions. The third brain (I did not forget the second) is the cortex, which is developed mainly in humans and also in several great apes. This brain is responsible for cognitive functions. on thinking. The second brain is the brain that interests us in the context of this article. This brain is the limbic brain, which is mainly developed in the mammalian birds. This brain is responsible for the emotional functions. In man you can find a whole series of emotional functions that have nothing to do with survival, such as: compassion, empathy, the need for company, the need for love, pleasure, motivation by values and more.
Thus we can see that man does not have one nature but at least three types of nature. Man is adapted to survival and performs major actions in order to survive. Man has a learning nature. Man is a social creature with an emotional nature that allows him to be connected to the rest of his species and even to the rest of the world around him.
Since we know that at least some animals carry a limbic brain, is it possible that their nature is not only "animal"? Is it possible that there is love, caring, sociality in their nature?
The most significant experience that showed me that the answer to this question is positive was when I tried to adopt a stray cat. In my house I have raised cats from it since they were puppies, and without a doubt you can see in them, as in many of the domesticated animals, social functions. The point is that in this case the doubt arises that it is possible that their social functions are functions learned from the humans who raised them. This may be true, but the interesting question is whether already in its nature, before human intervention, the animal is "human". The stray cat that roamed my neighborhood was cowardly and aggressive. Two very survival functions. He would immediately run away when I approached him and at the same time would attack any other cat to steal his food. Little by little I enticed him to come closer to me, and for several weeks I made him trust me. Once he felt safe with me, his behavior changed completely. He stopped being afraid, he became less aggressive towards the other cats because he suddenly had enough food, and the most amazing thing, he really "cryed" for attention. Every moment I would go outside he would rub against me and really demand that I give him love. Just like a child who did not receive love as a child. Exactly the same process happened when I adopted another stray cat.
My understanding of the whole process is that the animals (at least the mammals and the birds) contain a dual nature, just like humans. The more dominant nature is determined by the environment. Most animals are found in nature, that is, in an environment where conditions prevail that force survival. who are forced to be constantly on guard so that they don't eat you, and on the other hand to constantly worry about finding food. This is why most of the time we see the animals in nature as "animals". But in content, the animals contain another nature. Teva manifested in conditions of security and abundance. Conditions that are more rare in nature, and can be found mainly in animals that have been domesticated by humans.
In these conditions the second nature of the animals is revealed. Animals also love, animals also care, animals also need company, animals also have feelings, animals also have a "human" nature.
Various ideologies that man has developed over the years, thinking that nature tells us who we are and therefore what our destiny is, came from the premise that man is by nature like other animals: a creature with a survival instinct. This is how entire worldviews were built that justify the survival of the fittest. I believe that a deeper understanding of human nature as well as the nature of the animal, will make it possible to root out the influence of these concepts, and to instill the idea that life is meant for other things than just survival.