Animal Wisdom

Following the tsunami in parts of Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka back in December 2004 it was noted afterwards that with all the carnage and human death that had occurred, there was almost no sign of animal deaths. At an animal reserve at Yala in Sri Lanka with monkeys, leopards, buffalo, elephants and 130 species of birds, virtually no animal remains were found. I remember being struck by this and then recalled similar situations in the past where animals sensed impending disaster and fled the scene in what can be caricatured as a survival mode.

Many have claimed that animals have a "6th sense" but there is no real scientific evidence for this. Apart from our 5 natural senses the only other sense that exists on a few species appears to be the ability to detect electric and magnetic fields. Some aquatic species have this ability which helps them detect their prey or, in the case of the platypus, alerts them of predators. Much has been recorded over time that notes how animals and other life forms react when "earth changes" occur.

The general belief that what aids wild animals to pick up danger signals before tragedy hits is there ability to utilize the existing senses that they have. We all know dogs have a keener sense of hearing and that canaries have a keener sense of smell, at least for methane. What animals also have in common with each other that isn't relatively shared with humans are the distractions that people create in their environment, especially those distractions that words can generate. Animals are more attuned to their environment than humans based on pitches and vibrations as well as color and temperature changes. Verbal signals in the form of words have no meaning to the animal kingdom so they can't be deceived to interpret what all their other senses are telling them. They are also more inclined to respond immediately to environmental changes rather than delay as humans often do, thinking there's not a threat or it won't be as bad as it could be.

It's not to say that other life forms apart from humans are more intelligent but there does seem to be quantitative evidence that validates the ability of non-human species to read the signs that natures sends concerning impending threats to their well-being. I think humans have this capability but over time may have lost its keenness. Also, for mysterious reasons, a lot of humans tend to defy rationale thought. For example, other human instincts can ignore such alerts when things of value are threatened. In a compassionate form the mother will protect her child against danger at risk of her own death. We have seen people in California stay with their homes in an attempt to protect them when wild fires are looming nearby. Soldiers earn medals of valor, often posthumously, for putting themselves in harms way to protect their comrades.

As for humans who tend to defy rationale thought, we have also seen people fulfill David Hannum's observation that there is a sucker born every minute simply because people believe what they want to believe. People hold preconceived notions and if a clever con man can exploit those pre-conceived notions as George Hull did back in the 19th century regarding a hoax about a prehistoric giant, there is money to be made and even power to be had. We witnessed such ignorance again in the 20th century when gullible people along the east coast were convinced that space aliens were invading earth back in the 1930's, thanks to Orson Well's radio spoof "War of the World's"

A similar hoax is occurring today but one that will have more devastating results for people and other species as well if responsible people don't properly read the signs that our environment is sending us and react appropriately. In an attempt to turn the tables on true climate science, the faux science of climate skeptics has declared "global warming" a hoax. He who muscles his way to the microphone first gets to set the expectation of what is to follow. Sadly climate science has been speaking much too passively while their opponents have taken the stage with a whiz-bang carnival approach to awe the viewers and hold their attention long enough to make the follow-up act seem boring and trivial.

This has been the strength of the climate skeptic approach that creates that verbal distraction on climate change's relevance to our survival. They dazzle and amuse the gullible "suckers" Hannum spoke of, knowing that the more complex argument that climate science has to offer about the threat of man-made global warming will be dismissed as boring and irrelevant, because in actuality it doesn't "dazzle and amuse". The evidence abounds that the climate is changing and becoming more hostile as a result of global warming and yet the distractions that words can create have essentially left many people doubting their own senses.

In case you think I have gotten off track with my lead in about how animals react to their environment by appearing to digress into a defense of the climate science, let me bring you back to that premise in order to unite the two topics. The shift changes in life forms within our ecological domain, the Earth, that we are currently witnessing is alerting us to the fact that the globe is warming up. As Richard Alley of Penn State University points out, "where critters and plants live and when they do things in the year are moving towards colder places and towards colder seasons as they respond to the warmth. Most of the indicators are saying the same thing: it's getting warmer."

The animals and other life forms on earth are able to sense the signals that our planet is sending to its inhabitants. A body of evidence shows that physical and biological systems are changing as a result of man-made greenhouse gas concentrations (GHGs). There is a trend that shows that migration periods for birds and mating seasons for fish and other animals are altering to accommodate warmer seasons as are blooming periods for flowers and plants. Glacier melts and the onset of winter and spring are also changing dramatically than previously recorded data shows over the last half century.

The study mentioned above looked at some 29,500 physical and biological data sets and found that almost 90% were changing "in the direction expected as a response to warming". This information is also available in this well-crafted video by Peter Sinclair. In it he points out that these physical and biological changes are NOT the result of political agendas but natural reactions to their environment, as has been noted by physicist and biologists long before there was a sense of man-made global warming.

I don't want to draw this out because I know that short attention spans are also a human foible much like our lost capability of reading natural indicators to warn us about threats. What needs to be pointed out is the fact that as a species we are no longer the attuned creature that sensed danger before it was too late, as were our pre-historic ancestors. Our social evolution has developed into one where our focus is on what it takes to survive and maybe even thrive in a competitive market economy. This evolution has led to the field of science where now we can train a handful of people to handle such responsibilities while we go along our merry consuming ways.

These experts have devised mechanical means to replace what was part of the natural human mechanism. An obvious example of this substitution is where most industrialized nations now possess the capability of alerting individual communities of impending, life-threatening storm systems. Before a storm even gets close to us the air waves broadcast the conditions that will lead to this possibility and allows us to prepare in advance for it. We may be able to look out our own window or door and see the likely threat but our first inclination before acting now is to access the tube or Ipod to validate that what we are seeing is worth acting on.

This is a good thing because unless we somehow find ourselves living again as our pre-historic ancestors did we need the technology that replaces our lost capabilities to forewarn us against natural disasters. To ignore these warnings is likely to result in our own demise. Like the anxious homeowner whose home is threatened by fire or the protective mother who guards her children, we stand to lose our own lives by putting such values before our own life.

Death isn't always assured under some threats even when we think it is. We could evade death and destruction through some good fortune like a wind shift or change of heart from some human threat. But I don't think most people would choose to live out their lives this way nor would they want their children to have to endure in a similar fashion.

We have come to depend on others to share their knowledge with us so we can make sound decisions that insure a productive and relatively happy future. We may not always respond in similar fashion but most would agree that when they hear that tornado siren go off in their community that inaction is more likely to kill us than reaction. We have come to trust the science that has developed to warn us of impending danger.

We often see the success rate of our technology with quick reacting developments like tornadoes, hurricanes and thunderstorms but that may lead to an ineffectual response on our part over time. The reason we do trust the science that saves our lives is it can be verified in short order. We can see the damaged homes and uprooted trees from fierce weather systems. But, like the little boy who cried wolf, people will ignore warnings if their is no evident outcome that spurred the warning. If the threat is long term and we feel there is time to react at the last minute, people are inclined to deal with more immediate matters they can see and control and dismiss those they cannot.

Global warming is like that. It is a gradual process that is slow moving at first and the specialist we depend on have yet to produce evidence to some people's satisfaction that we need to act now, in societal congruence, if we need to act at all. We don't see the storm clouds and feel the heavy winds so we think there is time. And yet like any storm that is not apparent one minute, in the next it is upon us. We failed to act on the substitute system we put in place to forewarn us against such potential threats. Our focus was elsewhere and we allowed other contrarians like ourselves convince us that the threat wasn't real.

Our eco-system is speaking to us. The "lesser" animals and other life forms know this and they are responding to it. Yet, the so-called most intelligent animal on the planet has not only ignored natures reaction to the changes, but their own substitutes they put in place have been dismissed. One can only conclude that this flippant disregard to acknowledge the obvious warning signs is a factor of not using other natural gifts over a lengthy time; you become predisposed to lose a list of all others through atrophy. Common sense and intelligence appear to be at the top of the list

A Colbert "Tip 'O the Hat" to Dr. Beetle's comments that directed some of my thoughts on this subject