Hi unclewest; Re: "man is the bloodiest of all species"
I'm not at all convinced of this. I've been to plenty of heavy metal rock and roll concerts and I've never seen anyone get hurt. Maybe I don't look hard enough, but I doubt there's another large meat eating species on the planet (i.e. bears, tigers, wolves, lions, sharks, gorillas, etc.) that can squeeze 30,000 inebriated units into as tight a space as possible, spray them with high decibel music intended to excite them for 6 hours and not have all f'ing hell break loose.
Man is a hunter and killer, no question about that. But he is the most social of the animals, and the most in control of himself.
And as far as war being an all out activity with no moderation, the agreements under which wars are fought disagrees with that notion. Another example of how tightly humans are controlled.
Most of our complaints about human violence are the exceptions rather than the rules. Thousands of times I have walked up to strangers and exchanged money with them in return for food. This is such a common, everyday occurrence (eating at restaurants) that we don't see it for the remarkable activity that it is. No other (meat eating large) animal has anything near as peaceful a way to exchange food.
We're the kings of peace in the animal kingdom. But we can pack a hell of a punch!
-- Carl
P.S. Some of the other large meat eaters:
Chimpanzees:
They defend their territory from encroachment and seek to encroach upon surrounding territories. Encroachment involves periodic stealthy forays into surrounding territory for the purpose of isolating and killing an individual from another gang. Usually it is males who are the victims of these forays, although occasionally a female may be killed. Sometimes females will accompany males on a foray. A female has a much better chance of being accepted into a foreign gang than does a stray male. This piecemeal predation can result in one chimp gang exterminating another over a period of time.
...
Female chimpanzees have been known to go on a rampage and kill children that are not their own, although this form of behavior is relatively rare.
lonestar.texas.net
Wolves:
Meeting between packs, during these stressful times, are antagonistic and often result in savage fighting and mortality.
primenet.com
Bears:
Other grizzlies and human beings are the only animals that pose a danger to Grizzly bears.
aimsdvi.com
Lions:
The new leaders may kill and eat the cubs of other males.
zambiatourism.com
While female lions will live with the pride for life, male lions will only last two to four years before they are evicted or killed by a new coalition of male lions that take over the pride.
lionresearch.org
Only humans can get away with stunts like this one:
abcnews.go.com |
