Animal Behavior – Good or Bad?
The other day I was watching a program on the television about “badly behaved tigers” and it struck me as rather strange that humans tend to define everything in the Universe according to their internal conditions. It brought to mind my own childhood and adolescence.
We grew up around several pets. Once the pet had become accustomed to our home, my dad – as well as the rest of us – would try to teach the pet the “rules of the house”, so to speak, and when the pet engaged in behavior that was a “no-no” for pets, s/he’d receive a reprimand from one of us humans. For instance, mum didn’t like them coming into the kitchen, and so every time our pets wandered into the kitchen looking for the source of the delightful aroma, mum would walk the pet out of the kitchen and say “bad boy/girl” as the case may be. In those days, it didn’t seem like anything different from how we as kids were taught our manners and values.
However, having grown in the lap of Mother Nature in the early part of adult life and watching how different species of the animal kingdom behave, my views upon this subject have changed and grown. While it is quite natural for a tiger to react to the fear instinct in another being – be it animal or human – with ferocity, the tiger is not behaving badly.
In manner of fact, “bad” behavior is typical to humans. The reason for this is that humans are endowed with a personal will and can direct motives, thoughts, emotions and behavior to result in good or evil. The entire concept of “bad” or “evil” is invalid for the other kingdoms of Nature. Were one to look at it from a deeper perspective, the source of all evil lies in the human need to be in control, to resist the movement of Life, to manipulate Life, Nature, as well as fellow humans to serve one’s own pleasures. And since humans have forgotten as a species what it means to be a natural human being – or perhaps have yet to attain to that state for the most part – it might actually be a good thing to learn from Mother Nature and all her creatures.
For example, one would not associate ferociousness with contentment. While one could associate a preying feline out on a kill with ferocity, one would associate a deer/cow chewing some leaves or grass with contentment or gentleness. If one eats like a preying feline, one behaves like the feline. How can one hope to understand peace and contentment if one’s food consists of slaughtered fauna? These would build in the body energies that are contrary to peace and contentment.
But since humans also have the ability to respond with love and gentleness, if one eats like a doe or a deer or a cow, one behaves much the same. If one were to observe these species, one would know that it is impossible to see them causing injury or killing prey for food. The mind associates a deer with gentleness rather than strength or ferociousness.
There are many ways in which one can learn from Mother Nature what it means to be a natural human being. The more natural one becomes, the more one can appreciate that state in the other kingdoms of Nature. Then one does not look at a scorpion on the road as a creature to fear or swat out of life; or the butterfly with its beautiful wings as a thing to adorn one’s living room wall. One can appreciate the beauty of a deer roaming freely in the grassland or look at a tiger without needing to label him as “badly behaved”, solely because the tiger behaves contrary to human expectations of it; and/or because the tiger needs to survive and humans are fast stealing his natural habitat and food – the forests and its many creatures respectively – which often end up as exotic “food” on a human dining table.
Tags: animal rights, animal welfare, harmonious living, human conditioning, kingdoms of nature, Mother Nature, the web of life
Lessons in Living, Personal Ruminations, The Web of Life | Ritambhari | 
November 22, 2011 12:49 pm
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