5 ms·
Yes, of course. Your tone has to convey not only, "I am not a predator" but also "I do not perceive you as a threat, and so the purpose of my vocalization is n
by lisper 4y ago
Yes, of course. Your tone has to convey not only, "I am not a predator" but also "I do not perceive you as a threat, and so the purpose of my vocalization is not to scare you away because I perceive you as a threat, and if you come close I am likely to try to harm you in order to defend myself."
In nature, the Bayesian prior on an entity that is not a member of your species, or even your tribe, seeking an interaction with you that will ultimately be to your benefit is very, very low.
- 082349872349872 4y ago> the Bayesian prior ... is very, very low. Felis Catus: OK, stubclaws, listen up. You're going to toil the fields and by the sweat of your brow fill up a barn to attract my mice. Got that? Agriculture, Architecture, the works? Good. I'd explain to you how to make laser pointers for chasing, but I doubt you'd understand ... your kind always has to work things out for themselves, anyway. Now go forth and do your best to hold this covenant, you inflexible hairless monkey.
- lisper 4y agoYou owe me a new keyboard ;-)
- tareqak 4y agoFelis Catus: Correction, human. It was always my keyboard. You were just using it without my permission, and I reappropriated it when I felt like it. Now, go get me some wet cat food for your slanderous outburst before I send you to the cat food factory permanently.
- polishdude20 4y agoIs this from a book?
- numeri 4y agoI'd read it, if so!
- 082349872349872 4y agoSorry, nope. Had one of my replies called a "nonsensical answer produced by an AI" in a different thread, so I done did my best to outpace the machine with that one. When 082... was jus' a little baby, sittin' on their papa's knee Well they picked up a keyboard and a little CRT Said keyboard gon' be the death of me, lord, lord Keyboard gon' be the death of me https://youtu.be/lY_s42QvOTs?t=50 https://youtu.be/lY_s42QvOTs?t=50
- maxbond 4y agoHummingbirds I've noticed are very curious about other creatures. To a fault even, mantises will sometimes exploit this to catch hummingbirds (they are much more powerful than you might expect). I don't know if this is universal across hummingbird species/groups, but I'm able get very close to them by just patiently standing still by the feeder for 10 or 15 minutes, and they'll start investigating me.
- gonehome 4y agoMy sister had one land on her finger and point with its head to which flowers it wanted her to move her hand to. This was without a feeder, but in an area with lots of people around (at a winery).
- quercusa 4y agoWe used to have one that would hover in front of our kitchen window when the feeder (at the other end of the house) was empty.
- anthomtb 4y agoI have noticed this about hummingbirds as well. We have a feeder on our deck and if you are out there when they are feeding expect to receive an inspection. I like to think the thought in their brain is “are you a flower?” I’ve also had a hummingbird come within a few centimeters of landing on my hand while mounting biking (stopped, of course). I credit my new-at-the-time bright red gloves for that interaction.
- b112 4y agoMost hummingbirds are opportunistic eaters, and also eat insects. Such as knats and such, which love humans. So they may be looking for a meal, too.
- dreamcompiler 4y agoI can go outside holding a feeder and as long as I stand still, after about a minute the hummers will feed while I'm holding the thing. Brave little birds.
- Retric 4y agoThere are quite a few symbiotic relationships in nature. There are several examples where small birds, mammals, fish, or even some invertebrates clean much larger animals. The exchange straightforward, large animal gets clean smaller one eats the parasites, etc. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleaning_symbiosis https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleaning_symbiosis
- lisper 4y ago> There are quite a few symbiotic relationships in nature. Yes, of course, but unless such a relationship is already established the odds are very much against a random encounter between different species being mutually beneficial.
- Retric 4y agoThe interesting bit around cleaning is the relationships are between individual animals rather than being species wide. Some species of fish for example will mix in removal of parasites with drinking some blood and larger animals eating the cleaners also happens.
- jakzurr 4y agohttps://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_cleanerfish https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_cleanerfish These things are incredible. (Or incredibly mean?)