I’ve always been an animal lover. Ever since I was a child, I watched a lot of nature shows and got to have many pets. One of the most important lessons I learned was to respect animals. Initially, I treated my pets like part of my family. Many years later, I learned that doing that, is not necessarily a good thing. Especially if you did it for a long time.
You see, animals cannot think in the same way we do. So, for them, their behavior is dictated by their instincts in response to the different things they experience during the day. Take a dog for example. A dog is a social animal that lives with a group of other dogs. They establish roles and hierarchy depending on a series of traits each dog has.
This also carries over through other species. There’s always an ‘alpha’ if you will. The leader of the pack or herd is the one who controls what each one eats and when they eat it. Alphas will usually eat first and then, will allow the rest to eat. They will also control other aspects of their lives like where each one sleeps or drinks water. For instance, an alpha will push anyone that stands in its way, instead of going around them. This is a form of establishing dominance.
Another prime example is the gorilla. Silverback gorillas are the biggest in their packs. They control absolutely everything that has to do with the large family they form. If anyone does something the silverback doesn’t agree on, they will be dealt with swiftly. And as you can imagine, no one really likes the sight of a silverback charging them.
On other animals like birds, everything is a little more competitive. Flocks are equal in their hierarchy. Basically, the early bird is the one that catches the worm… and the female bird as well. They have unusual behaviors like, they will perform ‘dances’ to try to get the attention of the females. The female will choose her partner depending on how colorful and nice their plumage is. A peacock will open his tail and show all the wonderful colors. The one with the biggest, most colorful one will be the winner in the eyes of the female.
I’ve seen some very unusual behavior from all sorts of animals. One animal that surprised me was the raven in the following video. Ravens are famous for many things, but little did I know, they are also famous for doing exactly what this raven does to the girl in the video. Watch what happens when the girl says “Hello” in the video!
