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Did I already mention...?
4 years ago
Hello again fellow FA Artists, Writers, Crafters, Costumers, Musicians, and other very highly creative persons.
Did I mention before that I like to mess with the collective canine minds of the local Coyotes that serenade me frequently at night up here in the hills above Pasadena? The Coyotes must be drawn by the water in the birdbath, and also attracted by seed and crumbs of bread we leave out for the birds. Every once in a while, the entire pack of I guess about four to six individuals set up a howling and yowling fest right across the driveway not too far from the house, and very close to the outside windows of my little office. I don't mind their "Music" and I can easily take care of the messes they leave behind with the garden hose, but I must admit there are times I have felt something was not right with the night if I didn't hear their nocturnal vocalizations.
The Native Americans have lore about the howls of coyotes, and often tell of the barks, yips and howls either foretelling of disaster or misfortunes, but to myself, it sounds like they're mostly having fun, announcing they have found food, and they're either calling other pack members to come join in, or more likely telling uninvited coyotes to stay away. During the recent lunar eclipse a few nights ago, it almost seemed as if the local pack was trying to tell me something was "Wrong" with their "Songs" sounding somewhat frantic and agitated. I couldn't see the event myself as the skies were clouded over at the time, but then again, I figure my interpretations are mostly based on anthropomorphizing the coyote's behavior, and a bit of superstition related to me from my neighbors.
However. I like playing music on my computer as I type, or I listen to the radio, enjoying late night talk programs. Evey once in a while, just for fun, I have a link to short film clip of Johnny Weissmuller doing the Tarzan yell, which I play loudly over the set's speakers, and it usually sends the coyotes scattering into the bushes and down the gully. Now I'm not really certain, but there seems to be one Coyote who tries to imitate the Tarzan yell. I distinctly heard one yipping "Arr Yiii Arr! Arr Yii Arr!' as he runs away. This got me to wondering if the individual was trying to imitate the Tarzan yell with intent to mock me, or perhaps more than likely he was being like The Rude Frenchman from Monty Python and The Holy Gail, telling me: "We are not afraid of your Ahhh-EEE AHH! pale and insufficient attempt to intimidate Us!"
Canine minds... Go figure. The more I understand, the less I know.
"Peace."
Did I mention before that I like to mess with the collective canine minds of the local Coyotes that serenade me frequently at night up here in the hills above Pasadena? The Coyotes must be drawn by the water in the birdbath, and also attracted by seed and crumbs of bread we leave out for the birds. Every once in a while, the entire pack of I guess about four to six individuals set up a howling and yowling fest right across the driveway not too far from the house, and very close to the outside windows of my little office. I don't mind their "Music" and I can easily take care of the messes they leave behind with the garden hose, but I must admit there are times I have felt something was not right with the night if I didn't hear their nocturnal vocalizations.
The Native Americans have lore about the howls of coyotes, and often tell of the barks, yips and howls either foretelling of disaster or misfortunes, but to myself, it sounds like they're mostly having fun, announcing they have found food, and they're either calling other pack members to come join in, or more likely telling uninvited coyotes to stay away. During the recent lunar eclipse a few nights ago, it almost seemed as if the local pack was trying to tell me something was "Wrong" with their "Songs" sounding somewhat frantic and agitated. I couldn't see the event myself as the skies were clouded over at the time, but then again, I figure my interpretations are mostly based on anthropomorphizing the coyote's behavior, and a bit of superstition related to me from my neighbors.
However. I like playing music on my computer as I type, or I listen to the radio, enjoying late night talk programs. Evey once in a while, just for fun, I have a link to short film clip of Johnny Weissmuller doing the Tarzan yell, which I play loudly over the set's speakers, and it usually sends the coyotes scattering into the bushes and down the gully. Now I'm not really certain, but there seems to be one Coyote who tries to imitate the Tarzan yell. I distinctly heard one yipping "Arr Yiii Arr! Arr Yii Arr!' as he runs away. This got me to wondering if the individual was trying to imitate the Tarzan yell with intent to mock me, or perhaps more than likely he was being like The Rude Frenchman from Monty Python and The Holy Gail, telling me: "We are not afraid of your Ahhh-EEE AHH! pale and insufficient attempt to intimidate Us!"
Canine minds... Go figure. The more I understand, the less I know.
"Peace."
-2Paw.
Anbeesa Hands...Or "Paws" Down Marty Feldman would be a very "Crazy" looking Coyote with his thin and lanky build, and his even more disturbing Exotropic gaze.
-2Paw.
Lately he has been "...sounding somewhat frantic and agitated" (thank you steamfox) as he calls the kitties. Last night, when my brother and I got home from a shopping trip, we were serenaded by the local cadre of Canis latrans. Now I know where the cats are going. Fortunately/hopefully, the 'yotes can't get over my five-foot sheep fence.
I think the coyotes around here regard the kitties as fast food.
And in response to your later comment:
https://i.pinimg.com/originals/71/0.....06e137c3d7.jpg
I have more sympathy for the pets than the people.
Any 'yotes coming over that fence are looking for trouble.
Wish I could send my idiot neighbors that Tweet!
Animals can communicate, but in different ways than humans.
aside that, rubbing heads with a cat feels good. :)
I think part is a bit of misunderstanding scientific method. Keeping things simple, it's generally erroneous to conclude with certainty that, for example, an animal can experience suffering without some solid proof. But that doesn't mean a conclusion that they don't or can't experience suffering is correct just because you haven't gathered enough solid data to say they do.
Or to use your example, we can say that cats can be observed to rub on certain objects, including other living things; we can also conclude that rubbing leaves a scent imprint. But we can't make any conclusions about their internal motives for doing it just from those observations. Blind instinct? Maybe, maybe not. Affection? Again, maybe or maybe not. And if we're going to choose a direction in which we'd prefer to err, it depends on our motives. Are we planning to publish a peer-reviewed journal? Or are we just making casual guesses? Until someone does the proper research, the best bet is to err on the side which is likely to cause the least harm while remaining open to the possibility of being wrong. So is it more harmful to assume cats are scent-laying biological robots, or that scent-rubbing might release oxytocin for them and thus associate feelings of affection with rubbing?
Anyway, I certainly do agree with you, yet anthropomorphism usually is applied on animals about complex behaviors, and that is where we often make mistakes - we have a way to see things in our complex relationships, and moreover with our affect, which usually do not apply to other animals. Not that they don't have complex relationships or affect themselves! Just that our model is not the only one, and also because animals do have other senses we are not aware of, upon which they rely and we cannot understand directly, that make them do things we try and fail to interpret correctly.
I took the cat example because I just had that marvelous behavior displayed right this last weekend, and believe me, it was as easy to think this cat (that has no real master but comes from times to times visiting my aunt) liked us and wanted to show us his sympathy, as it was logical in a cold way to see things that he simply added us to his territory. But yes, true also, he wouldn't add to his territory things he dislikes, and I am not against the fact this behavior also shows some affection of some sort! For one thing, he is very conscious of the difference between us humans and some plants, furnitures or even other animals. So it is logical to think he got a behavior adapted to the situation.
I sort of envy US. coyoteness, we only get foxes and night birds disturbing our countryside nights :)
This is also evident in other birds, like the chickens at my friends farm. I talk to them while I work on completing projects in/around the coop, mostly to help them feel less wary around me, hopefully.
[yt]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UW5Or7bIVJk[/yt]
Admittedly not a band I follow. The lyrics are dead on though.
Got to see one trotting down my street a while back right as I was headed into my house. COVID lockdowns and generally reduced traffic have permitted wildlife to come out a bit more, which I'm fine with as long as it doesn't result in knee-jerk overreactions.
(*Yeah yeah, I know it's actually Portland.)
Back in my early wildlife biology days in California coyotes were understood to be smallish, solitary, and skittish, so moving to the East coast was a bit of a surprise in that regard. Apparently they'd been getting some domestic dog and wolf genetics mixed in out here for a long time*, making them a bit bigger, a bit bolder, and more social. Wouldn't surprise me if something similar was happening more in other heavily populated spots like the LA area, at least with dog interbreeding.
*Monzón JD, Kays R, Dykhuizen DE. 2014. Assessment of coyote–wolf–dog admixture using ancestry-informative diagnostic SNPs. Molecular Ecology 23, 182–197.
Thanks for the link to "The Daily Coyote". I believe I'm gonna enjoy that.
Wuff might have mentioned this before, but a few years back, ol' Vrghr was out in his drive when he spotted a couple doing their 'hike around the block' exercise for the afternoon, heading down the sidewalk across the street. A rather sleek coyote was casually following along about 10-15 yards behind them on the sidewalk, just as unconcerned and blatant as can be.
The 'yote gave me a look and I swear he was wearing a sort of canine grin as he passed by, like, "Look at me, aren't I a scamp?" He followed the couple all the way down the block. And when they turned at the corner, he turned the other way and trotted down into the big run-off culvert that met up to the street there.
The two doing the hike never realized how close "the wild" was to them that day.
*grin*