Today, the zoo...

[sqbr]

I love the tone of this article: Chimp planned rock attacks on zoo visitors.

Aww! Look at how ingenious his plots are to kill the zoo visitors! And see the sociopathic calm with which he prepares his weapons! Isn't nature inspiring?

I also like the way chimps disprove all those fluffy ideas about animals being too simple and pure for war and cruelty. I saw a doco once where one chimp cheerfully beckoned a park keeper (with whom he had an established relationship) over while his friends snuck around the other side to bring him down (the keeper outsmarted them, but geeze)

Really it's the same sort of anthropocentrism that leads to people arguing that animals don't have love or real language or whatever: humans being a special kind of nasty is still us being special.

Comments

[vegetus.livejournal.com]

You beat me to it :P

This article was discussed at our media meeting at work this morning. I love it how non humans planning something is seen as being so amazing in articles like this. I mean a bird doesn't randomly fly around picking up twigs and suddenly they just happen to form a nest.

And quite frankly if I was in jail for no good reason I'd be sneakily trying to hurt my captors if I could.

[alias_sqbr]

I love it how non humans planning something is seen as being so amazing in articles like this

I think in general science journalism has an unfortunate tendency to go "OMG! Obvious, dumbed down fact!!".