Updates and Geese

I have now changed the comment settings, so anyone including anon can comment. If anyone wants to comment, that is.

Geese.

Did you know the word "goose" actually covers ducks and swans? Ducks being smaller geese, swans being larger. According to the internet, there are three types of true geese. I'm not going to get into that, as I know many people find me droning on about animal facts to be dull.

When I was in high school I took a SAP class (SAP standing for sociology, anthropology, psychology)

My teacher one day decided to talk about how amazing geese were, and that's what I wanted to write about today. Gramma and I had our little road trip, and I saw many geese along the way, including a few lone ones.

In my previous post about my dog training technique, I mentioned that dogs are dogs are dogs. They're animals first and foremost. The same goes for geese. They're just birds, you know? It's one of the reasons that saying they have so much "humanity", "humility" and "compassion" irritates me. They follow instincts, they do what they have to in order to survive and keep their species thriving.

What I will say about geese - and a slew of other animals, actually - is that they appear to be more understanding. How many of us have gotten forwards, seen news clips, or read articles online about 'so and so' animal adopting 'so and so' baby, despite being of completely different species?

I read once that a lioness can walk through a herd of zebra, and so long as her tail is standing at attention, they're content to let her through. Lions eat zebras, frequently, and yet they co-exist peacefully.

Why? Because they're not run by emotions, like us. Animals hunt and kill because they have to, not because they can. Diseases like rabies can turn animals vicious, but that's when they're sick. There are many humans who are not actually sick who do sick things.

In a flock of geese, if one gets hurt - gets shot, for example - a second will go down with it. Why? To nurse it back to health, try and help it survive. Not because it feels particularly sad, but because it wants its blood lines strong, so that next season it can hatch more babies, raise more family members.

I'm sure we've all noticed geese flying in a V shaped pattern. Did you know that the goose at the very tip of that V, switched places with the other geese frequently? The one at the tip gets hit with the most wind, the most of the elements, and they trade places so none of them tire to the point of exhaustion.

And geese, like many birds, mate for life.

None of these things make them human. These things all make them animals, acting on instinct, trying to survive in a world owned by humans. We may be more technilogically advanced, but as a species, I personally believe we're setting ourselves up for failure. None of what we do is based on survival, it's based on greed. Who can have more, who does have more, and what we need. Not what we want.

Penny for your thoughts?