Subject: [Tweeters] a question
Date: Jun 29 16:58:14 2010
From: Rob Conway - robin_birder at hotmail.com



Connie,



My position is that morals are a purely human concept. I find looking at such situations (Gadwall mating) through sociobiological eyes to be very informative and interesting especially for non-human species (looking at sociobiological theory scholars have addressed many aspects of human behavior, evolutionary response, and nature/nurture questions - quite controversial). Definitely not a topic to start a Tweeters thread but I'd suggest doing a google search using the terms "sociobiology reproduction kin selection birds". You'll get a lot of material to ponder.



In simplist terms sociobiology would say that the males use every opportunity to spread their genes and the female is programmed to be selective of mates to get the best genes for her offspring. Behaviors such as altruism, nepotism, and infanticide in animals are widely discussed. Questions to ponder.... Why are some animals monogomous? Why do some "social" species (wolves, meerkats, ants, etc) limit reproduction to selected members of their colony? It is all good stuff to make us think about behavioral science through a different set of glasses. Were these Gadwalls brothers? Rivals? Somehow socially linked? So much unknown...so fun to consider.



Cheers



Rob

Rob Conway
Oakland, CA



robin_birder at hotmail.com




From: constancesidles at gmail.com
To: tweeters at u.washington.edu
Date: Mon, 28 Jun 2010 09:28:42 -0700
Subject: [Tweeters] a question

Hey tweets, as I work to write my new book about the Fill, I thought of a question I would like to throw out to you (hoping it's not too far off-topic):
Is nature morally black-and-white, or are there moral shades of gray? Or are there no morals at all, and if so, is there good and evil?


Example: Two days ago I watched four male Gadwalls gang up on a lone female and attempt to mate with her. One male would mount her and push her head underwater, meanwhile trying to fight off the other males. One male would eventually push off the copulating male and take his place. This went on and on. The female kept trying to escape (and to keep breathing), but she couldn't get away from so many males. The whole gang disappeared behind some bushes on Main Pond, so I don't know the outcome, but it wouldn't surprise me if the males had drowned the female.


Realizing that ducks aren't people, and that nature is "red in tooth and claw," still, what am I to make of this scene? Where is the good in such an action? Even evolutionary good.


Nature has laws. Were those male ducks breaking the law? I'd be interested in your thoughts. - Connie, Seattle


constancesidles at gmail.com
www.constancypress.com
_________________________________________________________________
The New Busy is not the too busy. Combine all your e-mail accounts with Hotmail.
http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?tile=multiaccount&ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_4