March 24, 2013
-
thought
Something i have believed i noticed about house cats or pet cats is this envy of our hands. I can swear at various times in my life i have seen them looking at me and just wishing they could have what we got. They watch and they just don’t get it when it comes to that claw begot the paw thing.maybe cats just look sneaky and i am not really just catching this look of envy on me and my human dexterity but it all comes out good when you demonstrate just how good you are with your hands on their back. so they forgive you of that supreme one up thing in advent of a neurotic self cleansing of your human oil on their fur.my but they do tolerate a lot don’t they?
Now cats, they are awesome as far as a needed ecology component. one quickly learns that in all ecological environments there is an example of the cat in every type of life, except maybe cellular lifeforms and soft tissue life. but pretty much every other type has a version of the cat in it’s closet. it is basically what the cat preforms that makes it so necessary. it maintains the middle and in the case of big cats larger prey base. they are quite varied and wildly opportunistic.bears would realistically cover this area were it not for that fact they are omnivorous and therefore are quite happy eating honey and berries. however cats have the call on small and medium prey with varied competition from birds of prey and reptiles.like the birds of prey and reptiles that fulfill the same ecological niche, they are what you would call specialist hunters. they have the fangs for the purpose of severing the spinal cord of the prey and rendering it paralyzed, the claws hold it in place after the cat has pounced.there is only one other cat in the whole world that hunts differently. the jaguar , which will sometimes use the claws to lock on to the chest of the animal prey and wrap its mouth over the nostrils and suffocate it till it drops.this is what cats do, how they hunt and the only way they can eat. they have no molars, so it makes me wonder why people buy the hard food. i guess they think their cats are dogs. all they can do is incise and strip flesh. they do not have the teeth required to break bone and grind as molars do. cats are specialists for a reason though, they practice and perfect when young by playing and watching the mother.
The factor that cats and dogs as well as a host of other animals experience rem sleep and in theory dream, as is demonstrated by the animal reacting to the avatar or environment within the dream sequences they are experiencing is of special and worthwhile note . lets move on to Australopithecus afarensis or A. afarensis for ease now. when i was in university and we began the section on these hominid members of the primates there was a fascinating realization that overcame me when the professor described in his words the foraging behavior of these prehuman ancestors. A. afarensis was the same species as lucy and therefore is well known by anyone that was around when her bones were discovered. this species was also uncovered by leakey and his wife at Olduval gorge. where he researched and then provided anthropology with this information. roughly 5 miles from his spot there was a dried river bed and he found stones from that river bed at the site he dug. however most these stones were not exactly worked on. leakey deduced a concept about the afarensis that will stay in my head forever. they would go to this riverbed, pick up a rock, somehow knowing it is the right rock. this is noted because there is no evidence of any rock being tested or pieces of rock being worked on at the river bed location.
afarensis would simply grab the rock of choice, walk with it while it would go almost 8 miles in a rough radius looking for scavenge. they would traverse along the treeline because the jaguars would sometimes leave their prey on the ground when they would go sleep in the trees during the day.afarensis would then upon discovering a kill, create the tools they need , at the spot , for the purpose of hewing off the limbs and whatever else they could to bring back to a central spot and they would commune and bond with the food each one found. what is remarkable is, these upright ape-like hominids were able to project the possibility that there would be a need for the rock, carry it. then fashion what they needed for the task at the spot.this was the start of the advancement of human intelligence. it is fascinating to even imagine.
though, to be more to the point there are monkeys now that demonstrate incredible ability to project a future outcome and make it happen or act upon it when it does occur. one such monkey , Capuchin , will hide stuff it has foraged from the lead monkey. it then will make the sound of a cat and quickly devour the stash before it is found out. this is in itself maybe not impressive on the surface. it is however incredibly impressive when you consider what really happens. this monkey can imagine that if it makes the sound they recognize as cat , or call wolf if you like. the other monkeys will run for cover, therefore react to a stimulus that is not even in the environment. the stashing monkey knows they will. it is incredibly complex and highly abstract.
as our species went on and managed to invent and evolve culture. we created myths, to somehow involve the nature we saw and ourselves as an agent of it as a way of educating our people about moral good and bad. we began to give animals and elements personality traits.it was because at that time our psychology of self had not yet recognized a separation of nature.this went on for many countless years till agriculture was invented.when, we began agriculture we started making the gods somewhat humanoid. we had begin the seperation of humanity from nature.
the abstract thought patterns we have was what enabled us to be the greatest copycats and tool makers on earth.through the years of tactilce stimulation our minds evolved complex and our dexterity increased. there is a noticeable co-orrelation between dexterity and the size of our minds. you can see this in the tool technology of our prehistory and distant extinct lineage from apes. the more flakes the more refined the rock is, the more dexterity. so the great part of the way we think and how we approach postulations such as problem solution, be it physical or mental we owe to our hands.the size of the brain is not easily applicable but from the casts of the cranial cavity of the fossilized remains, the folds and ridges which are a sign of advanced brains can be demonstrated as a correlative result. so the next time a cat looks at you and your hands funny. be happy knowing that yep these two paws gave me the ability to make things.
they have every right to envy us.
