THE WISDOM OF THE WORLD WAS IN HIS EYES

[r.magnay]

Spot on Neville, and that's how I know you are an old fuddy duddy!...........actually I don't know or even suspect that you are, but I think you already knew that from my electronic signals and cyber vibes!...

[mummsie]

Beautiful Maureen, and yes,Bobs right, and by your writing I can tell your an animal lover, now what about Neville.............I think he just loves to stir.
Sue

[Maureen K Clifford]

Sue I don't think Neville is a stirrer so much as an informed thinker, who is able to think outside the square without allowing emotion to come into the equation - no doubt a bloody good thing if you are fighting crime.

Instinct in animals is amazing and inbuilt or learned as Marty's little girl has shown. The only tradie I had trouble with when doing my reno Mahalia hated. She would growl at him, nip his heels given the chance, was always wary of him and yet he did nothing outwardly to harm her, complied with all my requests as to how to behave towards her, and I thought he was a good bloke and didn't get where this behaviour was coming from but put it down to a 'learnt' experience from her past.

She was right, I was soooo wrong. He did bad work which has cost me thousands to remedy over time, ripped me off big time and I have discovered that is his forte. Mr charming and convivial on the outside, rat on the inside. I now listen to my dog..if she don't take to you well neither will I. Her wisdom far exceeds mine in some things.

She will love Heather, and she loves her Aunty Leonie, took to David and Elaine and Irene with no trouble at all...I think she understands those with a poetic heart.

[Bob Pacey]

Let me know if she bites the purple moderator so i can be prepared. I'm like you my dog knows best.


Bob

[Maureen K Clifford]

not coping anything from me Marty - she is beautiful and at 14.3 hands as you have said she is lighter which makes her nifty and speedy. I am so happy that you DO love her because she will repay that love time and time again to you. But you know that.

[Stephen Whiteside]

Interesting discussion. Neville, it doesn't seem to be 'instinct' that causes whales to strand. It's all actually fairly complicated.

First, you need to distinguish between 'toothed' whales and 'baleen' whales. The toothed whales include sperm whales (Moby Dick), killer whales, pilot whales, false killer whales, and all dolphins and porpoises - amongst many others. (Dolphins are small whales, strictly speaking. To put it another way, killer whales are large dolphins.) The whales that strand on mass tend to be the toothed whales. (Dolphins will occasionally strand on mass.)

The mass strandings occur in clusters over years. It seems to be related to ocean temperature. Warmer temperatures bring prey species further north in the southern ocean, where they encounter Tasmania, New Zealand, and the southern Australian land mass. The whales follow them (thinking specifically here of pilot whales and false killer whales). These animals are normally pelagic (open ocean) and have little experience navigating coast lines.

They rely on their echolocation to navigate, and the suggestion is that shallow shelving sandy beaches generate very weak echoes compared to rocky headlands. These strandings generally take place on these sandy beaches. The whales are often observed to strand at high speed, and probably don't realise the danger they are in until it is too late. Of course, the evidence of their own eyes would tell them where they are, but they are so used to relying on their echolocation that they tend not to 'look' where they are going.

In some ways, they are very like us. Their instincts have been partially buried by their large forebrains. They make the sorts of mistakes that people make. If they were more ruled by instinct, they would probably be less likely to strand, rather than more. You don't see sharks strand, for example.

Something happened in the oceans a long time ago to cause the size of whale brains to dramatically increase in a very short space of time. It's a mystery.

The gap between certain animals and humans is really not nearly as much as most people believe. A number of researchers around the world believe dolphins - based on their ability to learn words - have a cerebral capacity similar to that of a five year old human child.

The baleen whales - including the humpback, blue, fin, sei, Bryde's (tropical), right, bowhead, minke, etc. - probably aren't as bright as the toothed whales. The other thing about these whales is they tend not to strand on mass. If they do strand, they are more likely to do so as individuals, and often because they are diseased in some way.

The killers (orcas) appear to be the brightest of the lot. One of the reasons they were never a very popular target for whalers was because of this - they tended to split up, throw out decoys, etc. It was just too much hard work.

[Neville Briggs]

That's an interesting explanation Stephen,
It is evident that there are things in nature that are mysterious and complex. Perhaps even elements that could be described as metaphysical.

I was seeing my GP once and we talked about matters cerebral, I asked him " Which do you reckon came first, the brain or the mind ? " He looked at me very quizzically and replied " Why would you want to ask that question "

[Neville Briggs]

You're improving Marty...