Friday, January 23, 2015
Learning from animal behaviour? (It ain't all plain sailing,y'know part 49) )
My friend Alex Melville, moored just beside us on the barge “Busted Flush”, has a sweet little, brindled coloured Jack Russell called "Rosie" ; we have an adorable little black and white cat called "Coco Chanel".
Despite his denials when I raise this particular topic with him, I sense that Alex obviously hates cats; even our adorable Coco Chanel – living next door – and this is the essence of the subject about which I am compelled to write; comparing human with animal behaviour and its connection to race, prejudice and religious intolerance. No kidding!
Clearly, Rosie and Alex, her master, are inseparable. She personifies the idiom “Man's best friend”; Apparently Rosie and Alex sleep on the same bed and they talk to each other all the time and she leaps endearingly upon his lap at every opportunity. It is clearly a splendid and admirable relationship between man and beast and one to which I aspire with my own ageing Norwich Terrier “Teddy” : but there is a dark side - clearly revealed by the manic anti-feline behaviour of Rosie. - that sweet little, afore mentioned, lanky, brindled Jack Russell - She hates cats too!
Sweet Rosie is undoubtedly a potential killer. So much so that, in order to prevent her from escaping to kill cats which, clearly, is her life's ambition; she has to be kept strictly on a lead at all times thus avoiding the wrath of many a cat owning neighbour now wintering in the port of Montauban..
Rosie is so intent on getting our Coco between her teeth that the poor dog is almost permanently shivering with frustration at the possibility of a “Kill”. Indeed, judging by the time she spends intently and maliciously staring out of next door's window, standing on her hind legs, quivering and looking pointedly at Coco as she calmly cleans herself on the roof of our barge next door, is evidence of the subliminal phobia which has clearly been passed on from her master; her commander.... and my friend Alex Melville!
Just to emphasise the seriousness of this anti-cat behaviour; a few days after arriving at Montauban for the winter, Rosie's leash brakes under the manic strain of her forward lunge at Coco as she innocently tries to sneak past Rosie on the pontoon. Without Alex's lightning intervention, who knows what the outcome would have been? - as he leaps to prevent a catastrophe, with both combatants falling into a wintry canal. Somehow Coco scrambles desperately onto the back of Alex - who is now lying flat on the pontoon - she is clinging to his neck. I grab her and drag her claws from his delicate skin. I am then badly bitten by Coco who, in her panic, mistakes me for Rosie. All ends well; wounds are dressed, leads repaired, and - one hopes - lessons learned.
My point is this – we are all subject from birth to the influence of our parents both good and bad - truthful (like one must not put ones hand in a fire) - or baseless (like one should believe in Father Christmas or indeed a particular religious creed). This is neither surprising nor new as a subject for research. Indeed it is well described by the respected biologist, Professor Richard Dawkins in his book “The God Delusion”.
On the one hand it is an essential behaviour ensuring the survival of the species; on the other, depending on parental cultural influences, it perpetuates counter productive behaviour, beliefs based on sorcery and witchcraft and animosity towards other species or breeds. Rosie's behaviour is surely an example of this latter kind. Her little mind has been corrupted by parental prejudice. It doesn't help when the first words Alex utters upon taking Rosie for a walk each morning are “Come on Rosie – cats, cats, cats!” - mind you, I agree, this type of influence could hardly be called subliminal.
In contrast, but to support this illustration, there is another young Jack Russell called Alfie. He is equally adorable and lives with his “Parents”, on the barge next door on the other side of Alex's barge from Body and Soul. He is a lively, friendly dog, almost completely free to roam; who, after some “testing encounters” has found peace with Coco and now appears to have friendly relations with her. They seek each other out each day. They really play together. It is wonderful to watch.
Alfie's "parents", (Nigel and Trish) have a long history of dealing with pets of all kinds - including gold fish. They have no issue with CATS or dogs - or elephants for that matter. Is this a “ Q.E.D.” moment? I believe so.
These two contrasting pieces of evidence are examples of animal behaviour which surely indicate how “early parental” prejudice is crucial to the behaviour of young offspring; but it is hardly, on its own, adequate scientific proof. It may be inadequate to the professional zoologist but there is countless anecdotal evidence which supports this hypothesis: For instance; examples abound of other amazing and unlikely co-operation between species, from cats living happily with pet mice – dogs sleeping with cats or pet rabbits, horses with dogs and so on ; Also applicable to dogs of completely different breeds of the same species – say a Rotweiller with a Yorkshire Terrier. How they get on with each other is, it seems, dependent upon early parental influences.
My own fascinating experience in Kuwait occurred when a feral cat (of which there are many in this country) entered my flat through an open window and promptly gave birth to four kittens on my bed. Clearly the mother cat thought that she had found a cool and safe place for her brood - but her relationship with me proved to be one of mutual fear and aggression. From the first day after the birth she would prowl around me as I dressed myself fearfully whilst standing on a chair!
I supplied only water to this cat on advice from a friendly Arab, which meant that she would have to find a food source outside. This gave me the opportunity to approach the tiny kittens when she was out hunting, in order to handle them and with a view to moving them off the bed to somewhere more convenient: I was shocked to find that they rose up on their tiny back legs - as if as one - spitting ferociously at me when, cautiously, I approached.
How did those kittens know that I was dangerous? This was, surely, an example of subliminal communication through the mother which might have saved their lives. After several tense days, the mother cat took the hint and removed all four kittens elsewhere, one by one and I never saw them again.
Now, I understand that 6% of the population of France is of the Islamic faith, of one kind or another. From this minority, a tiny number create havoc and perpetrate violence in defence of their faith. Hence the recent atrocities in Paris and in Belgium. But as newborn babies, those men (terrorists) had no idea that they were of the Muslim monotheistic faith. Like Rosie who is taught to believe that Cats are her enemies, they were indoctrinated into just one of the three main Abrahamic faiths and into its cultural norms in which they still sincerely believed and for which they were prepared to die. They might equally have been of the Christian or Jewish faith.
Blind, unquestioning faith is the problem which surely has to be addressed in "civilised" society but with Alex and Rosie - in this port of Montauban, - it ain't all plain sailing, y'know!
See also What I believe
A quick film strip on the subject of racism