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Plant Sciences, Zoology & Evolution / Re: Why Are Baby Animals Cute?
« on: 25/11/2023 17:46:58 »A series on the radio about it here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001sd19/episodes/player
This is fantastic. Thank ewe .
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A series on the radio about it here:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001sd19/episodes/player
My daughter has had 2 dogs one who would walk in just enough to wet his pads in cold of winter.. then cringe and back out not go in...so he would test the water back off and really strongly hesitate and leave in cold weather. He didn't even like getting his oes wet in the cold water but the older Lab BUBA did not care he would run in regardless...Now in the same situation, 6 months later in the same place at the river, with just warmer summer weather, The hesitator would walk in pause and continue right on into the water, so I think it is a thing with some animals.. these were two different labs belonging to my daughter. Also the hesitant lab did not like getting his feet wet on a cold frosty wet ground either.. he was the one who would shiver and shake the most in inclement weather too. The older lab had thicker longer fur.. Our pitbull did not like the cold water at all, as well as not wanting to get his little princely feet wet..LOL He would hold his bathroom duties off as long as possible if it was wet crisp or cold outside.. he'd wait until the rain stopped, unless you made him follow you out on the leash.. LOL.. Then he kinda tip-toed out but did not want to leave the sidewalk to enter the wet grass... at first we thought it was a texture thing on the grass.. but it was a water thing instead.. if it was cold he hated it... same as the younger lab at the river. Perhaps different animals react differently maybe domesticated verses wild may enter into the equation.. and what they are used to.
Who wants a wet sheep? Probably not the sheep.I witnessed a sheep being chased by a dog on a beach. The sheep chose to swim and to my surprise managed to outswim a very competent retriever who returned to the shore after about 200 meters, with the sheep following.
Some (many cats for instance) simply don't like to get wet. Plenty of dogs run right in and enjoy it. Tigers seems to like it. Sheep? Who wants a wet sheep? Probably not the sheep.
Going into water why? To drink only requires to be at the edge. Crossing a river is needed sometimes, so a wildebeest goes right in, sometime to the point of going back and forth across the large body being crossed in search of their calves, hard evidence of 'bewild-a-beast' effect.
Seals and otters and such are water animals and don't count, and one might ask why they might or might not hesitate to emerge from the water.Do you just go straight in ? or put your toe in first ?I go straight in.
We went to a campground where the owner could not get his swimming pool certified for public use since it lacked a chlorine and a filtration system. It was approved only for use of himself and personal friends. So if you wanted in, you went and asked, and he'd ask if you were his friend. Say yes, and you could go in.
Think was, the pool was continuously fed by a mountain spring, so technically it was an artificial pond, and super cold. Most people were content on the uber-hot days to merely dangle their ankles in. I would dive right in for the full shock effect of hitting water that was single-digit C at best. Loved it, but didn't stay in there too long.
Now there's another interesting question. Not only do dogs have far more sensitive senses than us, but they also have an exceptional dynamic range.I can imagine a dog appreciating a beautiful scent that would be lost on a human.
....like another Dog's butt ? lol
Switching from arse-sniffing to tracking a rabbit that crossed his path several hours ago, or hearing a rabbit, pointing to it, and ignoring the subsequent gunshot, is all in a day's work.
Daleks can't walk up stairs, but when dogs re-evolve an opposable thumb, they will be able to open doors and thus rule the earth.
when dogs re-evolve an opposable thumb, they will be able to open doors and thus rule the earth.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
I can imagine a dog appreciating a beautiful scent that would be lost on a human.
We really need to address the more fundamental question of what characteristics make a scene visually appealing to us, then ask how these might map onto the experiences, sensory spectrum and aspirations of another species.
I think a lot depends on experience and aspiration (which is to a large extent determined by experience). I recall a woman who had grown up in landscapes dominated by sand and camels, being appalled by the English midlands: "It's all too green!" but on the other hand when I described Essex to a colleague from Sierra Leone as "flat, dry, sunny, and too cold for mosquitoes" he said "It sounds like heaven."
That is a very good question! I have never thought about it visually! I am not sure, but as far as appreciating that the left side of the hill has a soggy wet mud hole, that might attract a pig to wallow in,
I might assume that this is a pleasant place for the pig to want to be, but as far as aesthetically pleasing to their mind as far as visual attraction, I'm not sure? Perhap a place close to water and a soft warm spot to lay in the sun etc for physical needs or such but to just want to appreciate its beauty or splendor may be more a human observation or pleasure..
Do spiders eat ants that seek refuge from the winter and or do they ever store food... in webs etc..
If they're active, they're probably finding warmth and food somewhere. They're quite capable of preventing their fluids from freezing.Thank ewe Halcy.
Some species do a form of hibernation (diapause I think is the term) where they go dormant and wait for spring.
Some simply die, leaving egg sacks to repopulate the joint in the spring.
I think there is something to it as when you treat someone placebo wise without knowing you lesson their own stress about being sick which can drastically change how your body responds to fighting off disease etc.. Stressing can multiply and cause disease.. so by eliminating some stress from a placebo could help ease the fight or enhance the healing don't you think? Kinda in the same way adding stress can make things worse!Thank ewe Kareny Mam,
The mind does have considerable control over your body, and how you feel about your body (eg pain sensitivity).
- So telling your mind that someone you trust has prescribed this medication will probably make you feel better, even if it does nothing for an underlying biological problem.
- We saw this during the COVID pandemic, where a significant fraction of the US population believed that Ivermectin had protected them from COVID and/or cured them - because Donald Trump told them (with no clinical evidence at all, initially).
That's why the gold standard for clinical trials is to test a proposed medication/treatment against an identical-looking placebo.
- That tells you (and anyone funding your health) that paying for this medication is better than doing nothing (for free).
- Often, the placebo effect is bigger than the effect of the proposed medication! But the small effect of the medication is visible because you can "subtract out" the placebo effect.
- However, large studies have shown that Ivermectin is no better than placebo at treating COVID (with the possible exception of trials in some 2/3 world countries, where the proven de-worming effect of Ivermectin may have reduced the known immune-suppressing effects of parasitic worms, allowing a more robust immune response to COVID).
I have heard of a 2010 study that demonstrated that the placebo effect really makes people feel better, even if they know they are taking an inert substance!.
See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Placebo#Mechanisms
If yes, then can the belief in getting better be achieved without taking a false treatment ?It takes actual belief, something some of us cannot just conjure at will.
I know others that are very adept at making up an alternate reality, and then actually believing it. I have a harder time doing it.