Monday, May 12, 2014

Social Behavior in the Animal Kingdom

Social Behavior in the Animal Kingdom

            A very common and adorable saying is 'Monkey see, monkey do.' After watching BBC’s 'The Life of Mammals' hosted by David Attenborough, I came to realize that there were a lot of truths to it. The survival of several species have relied on the knowledge that has been passed down from generation to generations, the example in the documentary (that was focused on different species of monkeys) is the acquired clam-cracking technique and the application to their bodies of a certain plant that acts a mosquito repellent. This can also be seen in animals such as meerkats and bees which exercise a hierarchical relationship and definite roles in their community (Andersen). Even we human beings have reached enormous feats by learning from our predecessors. From taming beasts to altering our environment and manipulating genes, we cannot deny the fact how man has drastically progressed over time. However, one of the basic prerequisites for such means of survival to arise is socialization. In such a case wherein animals were to live individually instead of groups, they would not be able to observe nor acquire the knowledge to survive from others. A more specific vital trait from which socialization may arise is cooperation.

            Social behavior, more specifically cooperation with the same species is a common characteristic with other known life forms here on earth. One such example is an experiment involving two captive capuchins that exhausted the available materials to get food and then shared the bounty with each other (Moreno). In the animal kingdom, the chances of survival in this mutual relationship is more likely to increase rather than approaching survival individually.

            There is strength in numbers if you think about it, one may perhaps observe that the raw physiological characteristics of the human is no match for other species such as lions and bears. What may have been one among our early advantages as human beings to other species, is our concept of socialization with other humans. Accompanied with our creativity and ingenuity in manipulating our environment, today we are among the most successful species in the Animal Kingdom.

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Submitted By: Jamaica L. Zoleta
Submitted To: Prof. Juned Sonido
Subject: STS X2
Group 11

References:

Andersen, Paul.  "LS2D - Social Interactions and Group Behavior." YouTube. YouTube, Creative Commons Attribution License. 14 June 2013. Web. 11 May 2014.        <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUFWQ-sZGq8>.

 

Moreno, Leonardo. " Cooperation and Fairness: Moral behaviour in Monkeys." YouTube. YouTube,         from the BBC documentary. 21 August 2013. Web. 11 May 2014.          <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePgC91kcmN0>.

 




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