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Squirrel having a disturbing snack



guess after all the nuts it became nuts to eat a distant cousin like that

but here's the deal: it's not aware of it, there's no moral good or bad about it, there's no consciousness guiding it, it's a primitive organism struggling to survive and multiply, that's all

it's way scarier when creatures with a conscious mind do consume other conscious ones around them. And I'm not even talking about eating them, just feeding on their jobs, their fears, their dreams. And it happens every day.

yup, scary wild natural world...
 
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ManofOne

Plus Member
Looks at avatar.........

Work From Home Sigh GIF
 

DogofWar

Member
My grandfather has a scar on his left thumb because he got bitten by a squirrel when he was 6 years old. He is 88 now.
So indeed, vicious little buggers.
 
Out of curiosity, how exactly do you know squirrels aren't conscious?

well, for one, they have able hands with good grip and yet are not exactly using them to build tools to help them getting food more easily, securing against rivals, getting safer against predators etc

like all other primitive creatures, it's all about survival instincts. No doubt they (and dogs, crows, elephants and obviously apes) have memory and problem-solving skills for immediate problems. But the main issue is that they don't seem to reflect upon their actions, they don't ask questions, either to themselves or their peers. Their behavior is repetitive and reaction-based and although much of human behavior is likewise, humans do think over their steps and missteps and improve upon it - humans can forgive, pity, help others and make ever better tools to face ever new problems. Why are there no animal cities? Why live just to hunt or be hunted? Why no plans about the future? Why no whys?

there's only the now for ever hungry creatures incapable of waking up and realizing they can do better by communicating and to do so they need to speak their minds and ask for other thoughts...
 
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diffusionx

Gold Member
Before the flu, I worked close to a park that was full of squirrels, and those damn things were the nicest, cutest little squirrels I had ever seen. They were fully comfortable with humans and acted more like dogs in terms of friendliness to try to get food.

I hope they're still doing ok....
 

DrJohnGalt

Banned
I've seen a squirrel eating a dead squirrel before. I tried to get close enough for a pic and the little bastard literally dragged the body away with him.
 

Kimahri

Banned
well, for one, they have able hands with good grip and yet are not exactly using them to build tools to help them getting food more easily, securing against rivals, getting safer against predators etc

like all other primitive creatures, it's all about survival instincts. No doubt they (and dogs, crows, elephants and obviously apes) have memory and problem-solving skills for immediate problems. But the main issue is that they don't seem to reflect upon their actions, they don't ask questions, either to themselves or their peers. Their behavior is repetitive and reaction-based and although much of human behavior is likewise, humans do think over their steps and missteps and improve upon it - humans can forgive, pity, help others and make ever better tools to face ever new problems. Why are there no animal cities? Why live just to hunt or be hunted? Why no plans about the future? Why no whys?

there's only the now for ever hungry creatures incapable of waking up and realizing they can do better by communicating and to do so they need to speak their minds and ask for other thoughts...
That sounds, quite frankly, like a whole lot of conjecture. You don't know if they talk, think, regret. We don't speak squirrel. I have no illusions they're on our level of intellect, but neither do I believe a species needs to on our level of intellect in order to be conscious.

If there's one thing we know for sure about animals, it's that we constantly learn more about how complex they can be.

Mind you, I'm not saying they're conscious. I just don't agree we can outright say they aren't. We don't understand animals, so we shouldn't assume too much about their inner workings.
 

lock2k

Banned
well, for one, they have able hands with good grip and yet are not exactly using them to build tools to help them getting food more easily, securing against rivals, getting safer against predators etc

like all other primitive creatures, it's all about survival instincts. No doubt they (and dogs, crows, elephants and obviously apes) have memory and problem-solving skills for immediate problems. But the main issue is that they don't seem to reflect upon their actions, they don't ask questions, either to themselves or their peers. Their behavior is repetitive and reaction-based and although much of human behavior is likewise, humans do think over their steps and missteps and improve upon it - humans can forgive, pity, help others and make ever better tools to face ever new problems. Why are there no animal cities? Why live just to hunt or be hunted? Why no plans about the future? Why no whys?

there's only the now for ever hungry creatures incapable of waking up and realizing they can do better by communicating and to do so they need to speak their minds and ask for other thoughts...
So they're about as advanced/intelligent as the modern western civilization using their hands to post tweets about pronouns instead of building with them and doing something productive. :D
 
That sounds, quite frankly, like a whole lot of conjecture. You don't know if they talk, think, regret. We don't speak squirrel. I have no illusions they're on our level of intellect, but neither do I believe a species needs to on our level of intellect in order to be conscious.

If there's one thing we know for sure about animals, it's that we constantly learn more about how complex they can be.

Mind you, I'm not saying they're conscious. I just don't agree we can outright say they aren't. We don't understand animals, so we shouldn't assume too much about their inner workings.

we sure understand animals because we are too. They're not that complex, they're hunger, fleet, fear, possession. We get down to their level whenever we drink or get high and slowly our consciousness levels drop or when anger or fear kick in. The high level human being is nowhere, only the ape, doing apeshit things...

you can give them things, they won't give you anything. Unless you train them, in which case they're trading useless actions for a treat...

irrational is incapable of reason and while that's in a large part due to the struggle of living a harsh survival life, it also means their species simply never had spare time to think much, so their brains didn't develop as much as that of our ape family.
 
So they're about as advanced/intelligent as the modern western civilization using their hands to post tweets about pronouns instead of building with them and doing something productive. :D

yes, some of mankind decided to go back to the caves, including flatearthers
 

Amey

Member
Scientists discovered that the chimps had hunted and eaten two smaller species of monkeys (red-capped mangabeys and greater spot-nosed monkeys). These smaller monkeys infected the chimps with two different strains of SIV. The two different SIV strains then joined together to form a third virus (SIVcpz) that could be passed on to other chimps. SIVcpz was then transferred to humans as a result of chimps being killed and eaten, or their blood getting into cuts or wounds on people in the course of hunting. Normally, the hunter's body would have fought off SIV, but on a few occasions the virus adapted itself within its new human host and became HIV-1.
 

Kimahri

Banned
we sure understand animals because we are too. They're not that complex, they're hunger, fleet, fear, possession. We get down to their level whenever we drink or get high and slowly our consciousness levels drop or when anger or fear kick in. The high level human being is nowhere, only the ape, doing apeshit things...

you can give them things, they won't give you anything. Unless you train them, in which case they're trading useless actions for a treat...

irrational is incapable of reason and while that's in a large part due to the struggle of living a harsh survival life, it also means their species simply never had spare time to think much, so their brains didn't develop as much as that of our ape family.
And what are you basing this on? There are degrees of intellect, and I think it's a bit presumptuous to assume we can understand someone or something that we can't even communicate with.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are aliens out there saying the same things about us as we say about other animals 😉
 

BigBooper

Member
And what are you basing this on? There are degrees of intellect, and I think it's a bit presumptuous to assume we can understand someone or something that we can't even communicate with.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are aliens out there saying the same things about us as we say about other animals 😉
Yea, but we made the rules. If they disagree with them, they need to argue their case.
 

pr0cs

Member
as a kid we used to hunt ground squirrels around a farmers field (he'd pay us to shoot them because their holes would hurt the cattle if they stepped in / fell into them)
By the end of the day we would have a pile of carcasses and the next morning we'd often find that the lions share of the dead were gone and often we'd find their brethren eating them, personally I suspect they did just so the area wouldn't attract predators (maybe I was giving the squirrels too much credit).
 

DESTROYA

Member
Nothing unusual, squirrel’s are nasty little fuckers that eat anything, grubs, baby birds other baby squirrel‘s .
Hate the fuckers with a passion , have fruit trees in the backyard that if I don‘t net eat all the fruit ( wouldn’t care if they just grabbed 1 or 2 but the little fuckers bite and nibble each fruit to see whats ripe ) .
Fuck Squirrel’s
 

HoodWinked

Member
I remember on campus a long time ago the squirrels at University because students would always feed them they didn't give a fuck and would just sit there as people walked by. I remember one of the squirrels stood up and was looking my way and I took a closer look and that squirrel was missing an eye.
 

Ikutachi

Gold Member
well, for one, they have able hands with good grip and yet are not exactly using them to build tools to help them getting food more easily, securing against rivals, getting safer against predators etc

like all other primitive creatures, it's all about survival instincts. No doubt they (and dogs, crows, elephants and obviously apes) have memory and problem-solving skills for immediate problems. But the main issue is that they don't seem to reflect upon their actions, they don't ask questions, either to themselves or their peers. Their behavior is repetitive and reaction-based and although much of human behavior is likewise, humans do think over their steps and missteps and improve upon it - humans can forgive, pity, help others and make ever better tools to face ever new problems. Why are there no animal cities? Why live just to hunt or be hunted? Why no plans about the future? Why no whys?

there's only the now for ever hungry creatures incapable of waking up and realizing they can do better by communicating and to do so they need to speak their minds and ask for other thoughts...
We have it good because our language could be recorded. With that, we live easy lives from the result of a few geniuses. Non-human animals have to basically start from scratch with no accumulated knowledge over generations. If we have to fetch for ourselves with the human infrastructure removed, most of us are not going to do very well.
 

dave_d

Member
Not surprised. I mean hell when I was a kid we used to have hamsters and occasionally we'd give it a grasshopper or cricket as a snack. The bug didn't last long so no surprise a squirrel will take a mouse if it gets a chance.
 

BluRayHiDef

Banned
we sure understand animals because we are too. They're not that complex, they're hunger, fleet, fear, possession. We get down to their level whenever we drink or get high and slowly our consciousness levels drop or when anger or fear kick in. The high level human being is nowhere, only the ape, doing apeshit things...

you can give them things, they won't give you anything. Unless you train them, in which case they're trading useless actions for a treat...

irrational is incapable of reason and while that's in a large part due to the struggle of living a harsh survival life, it also means their species simply never had spare time to think much, so their brains didn't develop as much as that of our ape family.

What say you to the following?

 

rykomatsu

Member
Vampire Squirrel says Hi.

Murder cow says hi

 
And what are you basing this on? There are degrees of intellect, and I think it's a bit presumptuous to assume we can understand someone or something that we can't even communicate with.

I wouldn't be surprised if there are aliens out there saying the same things about us as we say about other animals 😉

that's the very issue: they don't communicate anything

well, anything other than: "I'm hungry", "get off my lawn" and "I want her"

they can solve some problems to get food, they can directly ask you for food. But other than that primal urge, they don't care, unless it brings them more food.

and btw, food can be anything that moves, even if it's something resembling them. No partnership to hunt for more nuts, just a kick in the nut and beheading for a snack. They don't think about it, they just digest.
 
What say you to the following?



elephants, like big apes, have shown a high degree of self awareness at mirrors, which is a sign of consciousness. Happens in a few very social animals, where they have awareness of self and other individuals in their group.

squirrels are clearly not that advanced
 
as a kid we used to hunt ground squirrels around a farmers field (he'd pay us to shoot them because their holes would hurt the cattle if they stepped in / fell into them)
By the end of the day we would have a pile of carcasses and the next morning we'd often find that the lions share of the dead were gone and often we'd find their brethren eating them, personally I suspect they did just so the area wouldn't attract predators (maybe I was giving the squirrels too much credit).

well, perhaps they do have a conscience and eat their dead to have their strength - some human squirrel tribes (used to) do that
 

BluRayHiDef

Banned
elephants, like big apes, have shown a high degree of self awareness at mirrors, which is a sign of consciousness. Happens in a few very social animals, where they have awareness of self and other individuals in their group.

squirrels are clearly not that advanced

It seemed to me that your were implying that all animals, except apes, don't possess high-level consciousness. So, I provided a counter example.
 

Kimahri

Banned
that's the very issue: they don't communicate anything

well, anything other than: "I'm hungry", "get off my lawn" and "I want her"

they can solve some problems to get food, they can directly ask you for food. But other than that primal urge, they don't care, unless it brings them more food.

and btw, food can be anything that moves, even if it's something resembling them. No partnership to hunt for more nuts, just a kick in the nut and beheading for a snack. They don't think about it, they just digest.
That's a very simplistic view of their behaviour. Squirrels are pretty sophisticated for what they are. They don't just know they want food, they can assess what type of food they're dealing with, they store in chunks according to food type, they can remember hundreds of stashes and even create fake stashes to fool competitors. That's not just solving problems to get food, that's pretty complex behaviours.

They're not primate level by any means, but when we don't even fully understand our own consciousness, how can we assume that we know for sure how it works for animals?
 

DESTROYA

Member
Murder cow says hi

Cow story is BS

Cows are herbivorous animals, their teeth, stomachs, and whole physiology is designed to get sustenance from grasses thus cows cannot digest meat.
 
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