Animal Culture

I believe that underwater noise has an effect on marine animals such as whales. Using information from the passages I will prove my point. Their numbers are declining rapidly and I believe that underwater noise has some involvement in the rapid decrease in their population numbers. The information given within the two passages will help prove my point.

The evolutionary path of a whale is a fascinating process of a terrestrial mammal that evolves into a marine mammal. This evolutionary path started with one of the earliest ancestors called “Pakicetus”. A Pakicetus was discovered to be a land animal with four legs that had teeth as carnivores. It skull structure was long, but this organism didn’t look like any marine animal. The scientist then discovered that on the skull’s ear region it was surrounded by a bony wall. This feature on an organism only was distinct from one type of species, scientist discovered that this animal “Pakicetus” was an ancestor of a whale. By comparing the early whales Pakicetus to the next generation of ancestors Ambulocetus, the Ambulocetus whale looks more like

The origin of modern day whales, a mystery that has puzzled paleontologists for years, may have just been solved with the discovery of an ankle bone. This discovery might sound simple and unimportant, but the bones of these ancient animals hold many unanswered questions and provide solid proof of origin and behavior. The relationship between whales and other animals has proven to be difficult because whales are warm-blooded, like humans, yet they live in the sea. The fact that they are warm-blooded suggests that they are related to some type of land animal. However, the questions of exactly which animal, and how whales evolved from land to water, have remained unanswered until now.

There is no doubt that humans have always been intrigued with the majestic beauty of the large giants found in all of the world’s oceans. Whales and people have had a long history together, marked by many turns of events.

Charles Darwin was the first scientist to ever study animals in a systematic way (Bekoff “The Emotional Lives” 6). In his book The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals, Darwin discussed the

there are many arguments surrounding what defines culture and how it is possible to label all animals, including non-human primates, as exhibiting signs of possessing culture. They may not take in the opera or sip fine wines, but the verdict is in: apes are cultured. Fifty years of research on the apes has shown they use tools, communicate, and sometimes shake their hands just because it’s cool.

Over the years, this topic of whether nonhuman primates possess culture or not, has generated numerous debates. This has led to conversations on what is culture and if it is uniquely human. How each researcher defines culture correlates with whether they believe non-human primates possess culture. The definitions provided by scientists and other researchers vary based on its complexity and how loosely or specific they define it; as well as how inclusive and exclusive they are about what is considered a culture. This varies from discipline to discipline where anthropologist believes that culture is learned while biologist believe it is an innate trait.

Recent evidence suggests that whales may not have always inhabited the oceans. Bones of an ancient ancestor of modern day whales, the Basilosaurus, were discovered in Pakistan that suggest whales evolved from a wolf-like creature. This genus of an early whale lived 34-40 million years ago in the late Eocene. These fossils show many different features in common with both modern day whales and modern day land mammals. Since the discovery of these bones, many other evidences show that whales are a likely descendant of the Basilosaurus through many different ways, such as embryologic comparison and DNA testing. Whales aren’t the only suspected descendants

This paper aims to study the traits of non-human primates. By observing two types of primates including Common Squirrel Monkey (Saimiri sciureus) and Western Gorillas (Gorilla Gorillas), I try to find out their characteristics, pattern of their behavior, and differences between these two primate species. Especially, characteristics and behavior such as social interaction, food acquisition and intelligence will be discussed and compared in this paper. In order to enhance the persuasiveness of my observation, I recorded and examined at least 25 distinct characteristics of both Common Squirrel Monkeys and Western Gorillas. It is also helpful for me to compare these two primates. Apart from exploring the primates’ traits and differentiation between them, this paper will discuss the effects of captivity. How being in captivity and on display in a zoo would influence their behaviors and emotions? The observation was a great success and I have successfully derived with a hypothesis base on our observing data. The ultimate goal of this paper is arousing humans’ awareness of the importance of studying primates.

The domestication of animals by humans is an early example of eugenics. Animals were used for hunting, warning system against predators, and overall companionship. (History of Eugenics) Humans at the time wanted a powerful animal, that was able to protect their owner, and help be able to produce food and clothing Obviously a strong animal does not come from handicapped ancestry, rather it comes from a far more adaptive origin. Early day humans exchanged this idea that the fittest animal comes from the fittest parents. This idea of superior origin was used in animal husbandry (History of Eugenics). For instance, a cattle that could produce twice as much milk and supply a strong hide, would obviously out weigh its less useful

“Consciousness is a fundamental biological adaptation. In all mammals alertness and sensory consciousness are required for the goal-directed behaviors that make species survival and reproduction possible.” (Baars p.6) They have language to communicate with each other. They use words, motions and binary strings, “They have a semantic organization...; they convey social information...; and all languages refer to objects or events distant in time or space.” (Schonfeild p.3) Bees do a dance to communicate in their own dialect with each other regarding food sources. They share culture. The macaques on Koshima islet in Asia learned behaviors copied by others in the group. “There are socially transmitted differences in animal behavior-and consequently animal cultures” and they reflect a will to order their houses for the better.” (Schonfeild p.4) It 's possible for animals to create culture and pass it down. Take the case of the monkeys washing the sweet potatoes in the salt water because it tastes better. These animals are consciously differentiating between salty and fresh water tastes. They are

For years the killer whale, also known as Orcinus orca, has been drawing the attention of the public through the entertainment industry. These marine mammals have been bringing in billions of dollars to amusement parks such as Sea World, but at what cost? An idea that these killer whales can live happily and content while in captivity may be going through the minds of the public, but this cannot be further away from the truth. To have such complex creatures in captivity is not morally correct and there are many points against it, such as their level of emotional competence, violence between the killer whales, violence of killer of whales towards trainers, shorter lifespans, physical harm, and their level of intelligence. After taking a look at how these creatures function and the conditions they are put in while in captivity, there is no question about whether or not these mammals should be kept in captivity; an experience such as this affects these marine mammals just about the same as it would affect a human because of their high highly developed emotions and complexity. Since these industries do not have a natural authority over these creatures no matter the cause, the best thing they could do for these killer whales is to stop capturing them and return those who are capable back to the wild.

Gretchen Vogel, a contributing correspondent for the journal Science, wrote an article on how primate culture can help us learn the roots of human culture. Vogel refers to a primatologists and psychologists research on differences in habits between chimpanzee groups at different locations. The research mostly focuses on chimpanzees and their ability to learn from one another. Vogel writes about the evidence of primate culture that is based on field studies comparing the chimpanzee skills and behaviors in groups around Africa. According to Vogel geographic differences impacts a chimpanzee’s specific behavior and skills. She states that even if we do not consider primate behaviors a culture researchers say that primate traditions may offer insight

The ocean is a vast biome that is constantly changing. There is much to learn about the life within, the article “Omura's whales (Balaenoptera omurai) off northwest Madagascar: ecology, Behavior and conservation needs” showed how our knowledge of the ocean and the life within continues to grow. Balaenoptera omurai, or Omura's whale was only found as a new species in the year 2003. Their are no dependable population size estimates or evaluation of conservation facts because there is not enough data collected on these cetaceans. Scientists are able apply what they learn from some of these organism to humans. In the article “Reproductive Conflict and the Evolution of Menopause in Killer Whales” scientists were able to draw comparisons between Humans and other species.

The claim, humans are the only animal that can acquire language has been the subject of much debate as scientists have investigated language use by non-human species. Researchers have taught apes, monkeys, parrots and wild children with various systems of human-like communication. Thus, one might ask, what is human language? According to Ulla Hedeager, A universally accepted definition of language or the criteria for its use does not exist. This is one of the reasons for the disagreement among scientists about whether non-human species can use a language. In nature, researchers find numerous types of communication systems, several of which appear to be unique to their possessors, and one of them is the language of the human species. Basically, the purpose of communication is the preservation, growth, and development of the species (Smith and Miller 1968:265). The ability to exchange information is shared by all communication systems, and a number of non-human systems share some features of human language. The fundamental difference between human and non-human communication is that animals are believed to react instinctively, in a stereotyped and predictable way. Generally, human behavior is under the voluntary control,