This blog is about reading I did from my wildlife behavior textbook. I read the chapter about playing; it opens with a story of a turtle named Pigface who would "play" with balls and hoops placed in his enclosure. This livened up his bland habitat and stopped Pigface from clawing his own face and limbs - something he did before toys were introduced. Animals playing is an understudied subject...it kind of goes along with the idea of animal intelligence - are animals really thinking and figuring things out? Are they really playing just because it is fun? It is also understudied because it seems to have no evolutionary function and it is unclear what its function really is. I am interested in animal play, especially when it comes to playing with humans. Do zoo keepers play with the animals in the zoo? Does this strengthen relationships? What purpose does it serve for the animals?
The reading defines play as this - "all motor activity performed postnatally that appears to be purposeless, in which motor patterns from other contexts may be used in modified forms and altered temporal sequencing. If the activity is directed toward another living being it is called social play." I love how they can turn play into this dense, scientific sounding thing! But I guess it does make sense...an example I think of immediately is my cats wrestling with and chasing each other. They are playing, but the motor activities used in play could be used to take down a mouse. What makes play purposeless? (Can't it just be for fun?) The book lists three ways activity can be construed as purposeless - the observers just don't know what is going on and can't see what the immediate benefit of play is; the purpose and benefit of play might not be immediately forthcoming; the benefits may be multiple and confouding. So all of these deal with a benefit existing, just not being readily apparent. I guess play can't be just for fun...
There are several types of play. Object play is playing with inanimate objects like sticks, rocks, balls, leaves etc. The book provided several examples of animals playing with objects...cheetahs, for example, seemed to benefit from playing in that they were more successful going after live prey released by their mother than cheetahs who did not play as much. So object play can teach animals to hunt and survive in the wild. In a zoo environment, where the animal does not have to hunt, why do they encourage playing? Do they encourage playing?
Another type of play is locomotor play - this includes leaping, twists, jumps, shakes, whirls, somersaults. Yes, my textbook said whirls. Some benefits of this kind of play include better brain development in the part of the brain that controls limb coordination. This makes sense and would also benefit the animal when it came to hunting or fleeing predators. Another type of play is social play, or playing with others. This in particular applies to my project, because I want to know if zoo keepers play with zoo animals and how that affects/benefits both parties. There are three functions of social play - it can lead to forging of long-lasting social bonds; it provides necessary physical skills; and it may aid in the development of cognitive skills.
Okay, so what really is the function of play? A general theory is that play "functions to increase the veratility of movements used to recover from sudden shocks such as loss of balance, etc...and enhances the ability of animals to cope emotionally with unexpected or stressful situations." So in a zoo, where the habitat is controlled, the food is provided, and unexpected situations are very rare, what is the purpose of play? I guess animals do have to deal with humans, which can bring some unexpected situations - visits to the vet, other health care procedures, interactions with zoo visitors. So there may be some unexpected situations an animal needs to be prepared for. Personally, I think animals need to play and develop those motor skills and brain skills even if they don't really need them. It is an interesting ethical question....People want to go to the zoo to see animals acting like they would in the wild - that is when it is exciting - so maybe just as a money making tool animals need to be allowed to play or given the opportunity to play in zoos. I want to add a question about play onto my interviews - does the zoo keeper play with or notice the animals in their care playing? Do they think playing is benefical to these animals, even though they live in an artifial and controlled environment? Is it important for animal welfare that they play and develop?
Monday, April 9, 2012
Thursday, April 5, 2012
Animals Learn!
Wednesday's class I presented my project to Carlee and Jackie. It went well : ) Some of the feedback I got from Jackie - she wanted to know if South Africans would have a different idea of what a relationship was and how I was accounting for that. Apparently South Africans are a little more abrupt or straightforward - stern perhaps? So maybe they would not be likely to coddle animals. I have no idea what the normal treatment, or even positive treatment, of animals means to South Africans, but it is definitely something to keep in mind. I am sure I will learn how they feel about relationships before my project is done.
The rest of my journal I'd like to talk about the reading I did for my annotated bibliography. I read from the textbook I will be using for my wildlife behavior course. The chapter I read was about learning and how animals learned. There were three main ways that animals learned or could be taught - single stimulus, Pavlonian, and instrumental. Remember that learning is defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience. I am interested - what have the animals learned about living in a zoo? I wonder how many of the zoo's animals are captive bred and how many, if any, came from the wild? Is it hard for the wild animals to adapt and learn about living in a zoo environment. Do animals learn how to have relationships? Looking at the instrumental method of learning, it seems like it would be possible for an animal to learn about relationships. The relationship could be the reward, if the relationship brings kinder, prompter, more good natured care from the zoo keeper. But what actions would be part of the relationship...the animal being more cooperative while being moved or brought to the vet? And how would an outsider like me be able to see or observe an animal learning? Would I be able to tell by just watching that an animal had a positive, caring relationship with a zoo keeper? I guess it is easy to tell from the human side: is the keeper kind, caring, playful with the animal. But how do you tell if the animal reciprocates - I guess I am going to rely on the zoo keeper's opinon a lot - do they think the animal reacts to them in a way that suggest a relationship? I am interested to see how animals learn and encorporate that learning into their lives in the zoo.
The rest of my journal I'd like to talk about the reading I did for my annotated bibliography. I read from the textbook I will be using for my wildlife behavior course. The chapter I read was about learning and how animals learned. There were three main ways that animals learned or could be taught - single stimulus, Pavlonian, and instrumental. Remember that learning is defined as a relatively permanent change in behavior as a result of experience. I am interested - what have the animals learned about living in a zoo? I wonder how many of the zoo's animals are captive bred and how many, if any, came from the wild? Is it hard for the wild animals to adapt and learn about living in a zoo environment. Do animals learn how to have relationships? Looking at the instrumental method of learning, it seems like it would be possible for an animal to learn about relationships. The relationship could be the reward, if the relationship brings kinder, prompter, more good natured care from the zoo keeper. But what actions would be part of the relationship...the animal being more cooperative while being moved or brought to the vet? And how would an outsider like me be able to see or observe an animal learning? Would I be able to tell by just watching that an animal had a positive, caring relationship with a zoo keeper? I guess it is easy to tell from the human side: is the keeper kind, caring, playful with the animal. But how do you tell if the animal reciprocates - I guess I am going to rely on the zoo keeper's opinon a lot - do they think the animal reacts to them in a way that suggest a relationship? I am interested to see how animals learn and encorporate that learning into their lives in the zoo.
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Coping with Culture Shock
Monday's lecture was all about culture shock - what it is and how we can deal with it. The reading and class were both alarming and helpful...it is alarming to think that I am going to not only be in a foreign, unusual, different culture, but I'm informed I am going to go through a period of hostility and frustration in which aspects of the culture will effectively drive me crazy. Luckily there are ways to deal with culture shock and hopefully "cure" it. Ashley showed us a list of culture shock symptoms and said that depending on how we personally coped with stress determines our culture shock symptoms. Looking at her list these things stood out as signs I might be under stress: excessive reading and sleeping, excessive laptop use, phobic behavior, or not going out. I definitely use movies and books as a safety net or comfort blanket. So if I realize all I want to do is watch movies or read books I might be experiencing culture shock (of course I do just enjoy movies and books and sleep, so those won't necessarily mean I am in culture shock). I can see myself getting rather phobic about things. Last Christmas I had some money stolen from my luggage and I am already dreading luggage issues with my upcoming international travel. We've talked some about safety in South Africa and I could definitely become phobic about safety issues. And of course, when stressed or disstressed, it is hard to leave the house, where things will be familiar and safe. And of course frustration and general grumpiness seem to be a part of culture shock.
Okay, so I know the visible signs of culture shock - what do I do once I realize I might be experiencing it? Suggestions that I liked and intend to apply: laught at things, empathy, remembering that this is a once in a lifetime experience, keep the faith, and involving the host family. Of course I am going to make cultural mistakes. Hopefully most of them are pretty small and easy to learn from and then laugh about. I think humor is a great way to combat culture shock and maintain good relationships. Empathy is VITAL!!!! Remembering that the upbringing of South Africans might be drastically different from my upbringing and experiences is very important, as well as putting myself in other people's shoes. I have wanted to go to South Africa forever, this is my dream, and I want to make the most of it and embrace it - culture shock and all! I liked the keeping the faith method for minimizing culture shock...keeping the faith to me means that I remember we are all God's children. We might be different culturally and religiously but we are all brothers and sisters. It also means remembering, as Dr. Brown said in the Inquiry Conference, that humanity and the world are really better than the news usually makes them out to be...the world's a great place. Involving the host family seems like a very wise idea - they will be the people I know best, outside of Holly and Emily, and they will understand how the culture works. Of course I want to take advantage of their knowledge and wisdom.
Some other thoughts I had from Monday's class: I should talk to my parents about how they dealt with culture shock. When I was 6-9 I lived overseas in Ireland and Israel. I don't remember dealing with culture shock, I was probably too young and just thought everything was a grand adventure. But I'm sure my parents had an interesting time figuring things out - I should ask them how strongly they felt culture shock and how they dealt with it. Another thought - in preparing for dealing with culture shock, the reading suggested knowing about your own culture and how it affects what you think and how you view things. What an interesting thing to think about! As a born and raised Mormon I naturally view some things a certain way, although I can't think of anything specifically right now - another blog post? And the final thing I want to work on is learning how South Africans communicate non-verbally....what things are different then how Americans communicate non-verbally.
Okay, so I know the visible signs of culture shock - what do I do once I realize I might be experiencing it? Suggestions that I liked and intend to apply: laught at things, empathy, remembering that this is a once in a lifetime experience, keep the faith, and involving the host family. Of course I am going to make cultural mistakes. Hopefully most of them are pretty small and easy to learn from and then laugh about. I think humor is a great way to combat culture shock and maintain good relationships. Empathy is VITAL!!!! Remembering that the upbringing of South Africans might be drastically different from my upbringing and experiences is very important, as well as putting myself in other people's shoes. I have wanted to go to South Africa forever, this is my dream, and I want to make the most of it and embrace it - culture shock and all! I liked the keeping the faith method for minimizing culture shock...keeping the faith to me means that I remember we are all God's children. We might be different culturally and religiously but we are all brothers and sisters. It also means remembering, as Dr. Brown said in the Inquiry Conference, that humanity and the world are really better than the news usually makes them out to be...the world's a great place. Involving the host family seems like a very wise idea - they will be the people I know best, outside of Holly and Emily, and they will understand how the culture works. Of course I want to take advantage of their knowledge and wisdom.
Some other thoughts I had from Monday's class: I should talk to my parents about how they dealt with culture shock. When I was 6-9 I lived overseas in Ireland and Israel. I don't remember dealing with culture shock, I was probably too young and just thought everything was a grand adventure. But I'm sure my parents had an interesting time figuring things out - I should ask them how strongly they felt culture shock and how they dealt with it. Another thought - in preparing for dealing with culture shock, the reading suggested knowing about your own culture and how it affects what you think and how you view things. What an interesting thing to think about! As a born and raised Mormon I naturally view some things a certain way, although I can't think of anything specifically right now - another blog post? And the final thing I want to work on is learning how South Africans communicate non-verbally....what things are different then how Americans communicate non-verbally.
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
The Unconscious Brilliance of Nature
Another chapter from If a Lion Could Talk. This chapter is about humans trying to determine once and for all whether animals "think". The issue is that intelligence and the ability to think are not the same! A common example: a dog might jump up at a door handle over and over again and one time the door opens, the dog is free! The dog might do this over and over again, opening the door each time, but that does not mean the dog understands the underlying mechanism that causes this. The dog is not conciously thinking "I can open the door by scratching at the handle." This example reminds me of some of the papers I read about human-animal relationships. The keepers are bringing the animals food, so when an animal sees a keeper approaching, it is excited and goes to meet the keeper....is that because it has learned that keeper=food, or is it pleased to see the keeper for other reasons?
This chapter talks a lot about learning associations - animals can recognize cause and effect, that does not mean they have a "theory of mind." A theory of mind involves imputing personal intentions, beliefs, and desires to and of others....this is kind of a complicated idea, but here's another example to clarify. The author of the book has a dog that would always try to eat the cat's food. The author would tell the dog off, so it stopped eating the food. Then one day the author was on the phone, and the dog went for the dog food again. The author was busy and couldn't tell off the dog. After that, whenever the author was on the phone, the dog would eat the cat food. So, was the dog thinking "Aha! He is distracted, I'm going to eat the food now!" Or was it simply a learned association - when he's on the phone, eat the food. There is a subtle difference between these two things...unthinking intelligence versus understanding.
Something interesting caused by learned associations is superstitious behavior in animals. Example - a horse shying at the same place in the road where it was once scared by a bird. Apparently animals are pretty quick at picking up possibly cause and effects or associations. They do something a certain way because they recieve positive attention. Okay, so how does all of this tie into my project? I think it ties into the idea of positive reinforcement training - if a keeper treats an animal in a positive manner afte they do something the keeper wants, the animal is going to be more willing to do that behavior again. I've heard of training like this being used with elephants - keepers trained an elephant to raise it's foot for cleaning - positive reinforcement training causes less stress to the animals and make the keepers job easier. I don't know if the animals are really thinking about things - if they make decisions based on what other animals or humans are thinking. But regardless, using learned associations in the zoo environment seems like a grand idea.
This chapter talks a lot about learning associations - animals can recognize cause and effect, that does not mean they have a "theory of mind." A theory of mind involves imputing personal intentions, beliefs, and desires to and of others....this is kind of a complicated idea, but here's another example to clarify. The author of the book has a dog that would always try to eat the cat's food. The author would tell the dog off, so it stopped eating the food. Then one day the author was on the phone, and the dog went for the dog food again. The author was busy and couldn't tell off the dog. After that, whenever the author was on the phone, the dog would eat the cat food. So, was the dog thinking "Aha! He is distracted, I'm going to eat the food now!" Or was it simply a learned association - when he's on the phone, eat the food. There is a subtle difference between these two things...unthinking intelligence versus understanding.
Something interesting caused by learned associations is superstitious behavior in animals. Example - a horse shying at the same place in the road where it was once scared by a bird. Apparently animals are pretty quick at picking up possibly cause and effects or associations. They do something a certain way because they recieve positive attention. Okay, so how does all of this tie into my project? I think it ties into the idea of positive reinforcement training - if a keeper treats an animal in a positive manner afte they do something the keeper wants, the animal is going to be more willing to do that behavior again. I've heard of training like this being used with elephants - keepers trained an elephant to raise it's foot for cleaning - positive reinforcement training causes less stress to the animals and make the keepers job easier. I don't know if the animals are really thinking about things - if they make decisions based on what other animals or humans are thinking. But regardless, using learned associations in the zoo environment seems like a grand idea.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Issues in the Field
Today's class was great - I really appreciated it. We had a panel dicussion with the facilitators who have experience in the field. They shared many of the problems they had the field and ways to get around those problems. Some of the issues that concern me the most: I was not really worried about having issues with the people in my group, but it sounds like that is quite common. I just feel like Holly and Emily are going to be so great to have around, familiar faces in a strange new culture. They are both really smart, likeable girls, so I really hope we do not have too many problems. Another thing that concerns me is culture shock. Everyone talked about being overwhelmed and how little things that are different really start to bother them. This is a bit discouraging to me. I want to hear that everything is just great and an amazing and fantastic experience.....I know this is not realistic, and it is good to hear about these issues so that I do not go into the field completely naively. Anyway, back to culture shock, I really like Heather's approach to this problem, and to the problem of lost motivation. She would make a list of the things she loved about South Africa. It might be the only time I ever get to go to that part of the world, and I certainly want to make the most of it, to enjoy and treasure that time.
Other things that worry me - I am worried about meeting people and becoming part of the community. I feel like with our field experience that is a little harder - we are not going to some small rural village where everyone will know us, we are going to a fairly large city. So that means identifying communities within the city to join - I know I will be part of the church community and I hope to be part of the zoo community. Then there is our host family and whatever community they are apart of; hopefully I can enter into that community and get to know their family and friends. Anyway, a big part of our in-field class is getting out into communities and working with people. I guess I am worried that since it is a bigger city that it will be harder to find the right communities to work with....but church and the Thomases should provide enough opportunity to meet and befriend other people. And I would like to go to Mama Yoyo's school, so there is another community!
I haven't been too worried about language, but maybe I should? Heather and others have mentioned that the accents can be quite hard to decipher. And of course there will be new vocabulary. Maybe I'll just listen to a ton of youtube clips of people speaking with various South African accents...I did watch this one video where a guy was trying to teach how to talk with a South African accent - I don't think he did a very accurate job, but what do I know!? Anyway, it was good to discuss these and other issues that arise in the field. I really want to work on adding more safety-nets into my proposal, like Ashley suggested.
Other things that worry me - I am worried about meeting people and becoming part of the community. I feel like with our field experience that is a little harder - we are not going to some small rural village where everyone will know us, we are going to a fairly large city. So that means identifying communities within the city to join - I know I will be part of the church community and I hope to be part of the zoo community. Then there is our host family and whatever community they are apart of; hopefully I can enter into that community and get to know their family and friends. Anyway, a big part of our in-field class is getting out into communities and working with people. I guess I am worried that since it is a bigger city that it will be harder to find the right communities to work with....but church and the Thomases should provide enough opportunity to meet and befriend other people. And I would like to go to Mama Yoyo's school, so there is another community!
I haven't been too worried about language, but maybe I should? Heather and others have mentioned that the accents can be quite hard to decipher. And of course there will be new vocabulary. Maybe I'll just listen to a ton of youtube clips of people speaking with various South African accents...I did watch this one video where a guy was trying to teach how to talk with a South African accent - I don't think he did a very accurate job, but what do I know!? Anyway, it was good to discuss these and other issues that arise in the field. I really want to work on adding more safety-nets into my proposal, like Ashley suggested.
If a goldfish had arms and legs....
So this is the blog for Friday's class - we worked on project proposals. It was a good workshop, I learned several things to add to my project to improve it. I wasn't really sure what to blog about this workshop though, so I have turned to "If a Lion Could Talk" for inspiration. The first chapter is entitled "Who is the smartest of them all?" Something I found really interesting was the idea that started with Darwin's theory of evolution that evolution is like a stepladder and that organisms are trying to progress up that ladder, say from insects to the top, humans. Humans were considered the "most evolved" and "most intelligent". In reality, all organisms are equally evolved. All have evolved to their niche - their habitat, lifestyle, etc. Another problem is how one defines intelligence - how do you measure it? How do you fit a bird's abiltiy to fly or a spider's ability to weave a web into a human idea of intelligence? Tests for intelligence are often biased - even among humans. So try testing hundreds of different species! A different test would need to be created for each species, perhaps even each individual. "Animals differ in temperament, perceptual abilities, social behavior..."
Another point I really like is this - "we say a dog or horse is smart when it does what we want it to do" - humans have projected themselves so much onto animals....it is hard to separate our perceptions of the world in order to think about how animals might perceive the world. Something else to be aware about when judging an animal is their input and output ability. The author talks about how we judge animals that can see and do things readily as being more intelligent i.e. a monkey that can sign with its hands or an owl that can see great distances. But just because a golfish has limited eyesight and no limbs does not mean that it is dumb. So monkeys and owls might have greater ability to demonstrate that they are taking things in (greater input and output ability) but that doesn't mean they are the smartest animals around.
So how does all of this apply to my project? I think it is really important to be aware of all these things before I go out and work with animals. I am really curious to see what kind of biases and stereotypes exist against animals in the zoo. Do the same biases that apply to intelligence apply to relationships? I mean do keepers not even try to develop relationships with certain species because they think it is impossible to have a relationships with them? Is it impossible to have relationships with certain species...probably yes, it would be hard to have a relationship with a snail or a butterfly, but I wonder.....I want to be careful to not assign intelligence to certain animals just because they behave in a human manner or have greater output and input abilities.
Another point I really like is this - "we say a dog or horse is smart when it does what we want it to do" - humans have projected themselves so much onto animals....it is hard to separate our perceptions of the world in order to think about how animals might perceive the world. Something else to be aware about when judging an animal is their input and output ability. The author talks about how we judge animals that can see and do things readily as being more intelligent i.e. a monkey that can sign with its hands or an owl that can see great distances. But just because a golfish has limited eyesight and no limbs does not mean that it is dumb. So monkeys and owls might have greater ability to demonstrate that they are taking things in (greater input and output ability) but that doesn't mean they are the smartest animals around.
So how does all of this apply to my project? I think it is really important to be aware of all these things before I go out and work with animals. I am really curious to see what kind of biases and stereotypes exist against animals in the zoo. Do the same biases that apply to intelligence apply to relationships? I mean do keepers not even try to develop relationships with certain species because they think it is impossible to have a relationships with them? Is it impossible to have relationships with certain species...probably yes, it would be hard to have a relationship with a snail or a butterfly, but I wonder.....I want to be careful to not assign intelligence to certain animals just because they behave in a human manner or have greater output and input abilities.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
A History of Art
The oldest art objects in the world were discovered in a cave in South Africa! So, it has quite a history of art. The art and religion of South Africa was the topic of conversation for Wednesday's class. I would like to focus on the art aspect of South African culture in this post. What were the art objects in the cave that are 75,000 years old - they were drilled out snail shells probably strung on something to create a knecklace. Vanity existed 75,000 years ago! There was also rock art created by the ancient ancestors of the Bushman or San.
Today there is a vibrant and active art community. I was interested to see what kind of art was produced during apartheid. Here are some examples:
Pretty dark, dramatic stuff, as you might imagine. It was interesting to look at some of the photography from apartheid - interesting is not the right word, heartbreaking is really more appropriate. Here is some mor contemporary art...I found that a lot of the contemporary art depicts tribal scenes or traditions - South Africans have not forgotten their roots or their history.
And of course, there is all the craft artwork, like this bread pot made out of...telephone wire!!! It's amazing.
What did I learn from this brief exploration of South African art? I can postulate some things: South Africans are very crafty and good at making beautiful things with very little - rocks, telephone wire, etc. They have a strong connection to their past and keep old traditions alive in their culture today. I am excited to go there and learn more about their art - hopefully we can go to the art show that Heather has mentioned a couple times.
Today there is a vibrant and active art community. I was interested to see what kind of art was produced during apartheid. Here are some examples:
Pretty dark, dramatic stuff, as you might imagine. It was interesting to look at some of the photography from apartheid - interesting is not the right word, heartbreaking is really more appropriate. Here is some mor contemporary art...I found that a lot of the contemporary art depicts tribal scenes or traditions - South Africans have not forgotten their roots or their history.
And of course, there is all the craft artwork, like this bread pot made out of...telephone wire!!! It's amazing.
What did I learn from this brief exploration of South African art? I can postulate some things: South Africans are very crafty and good at making beautiful things with very little - rocks, telephone wire, etc. They have a strong connection to their past and keep old traditions alive in their culture today. I am excited to go there and learn more about their art - hopefully we can go to the art show that Heather has mentioned a couple times.
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