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Group of monkeys kill over 250 dogs for 'revenge' in Indian town

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Re: Group of monkeys kill over 250 dogs for 'revenge' in Indian town

#181
So I'm guessing that without intervention, two distinct sentient groups would be at constant warfare with each other until one group was extinct.

Is this what happened with early hominids and why there aren't other creatures that have evolved to the same level of intelligence as humans?

Re: Group of monkeys kill over 250 dogs for 'revenge' in Indian town

#182
post #176

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but (without being a scholar of religion) I had always assumed that Hinduism was far older than its oldest surviving texts, just as Judaism, in some form, is older than whatever year we date the Torah to.

it depends on what you call 'hinduism'. it's one of the world's most heterodox religions and has absorbed a huge amount of cultural tradition from at least 300 languages. The rig veda is probably what most people agree is one of the foundational texts of hinduism, but it dates to about 1500 BC. However, the vedas probably absorbed a lot of earlier cultural tradition from the indus valley civilization, especially wors…

I imagine that when your career is arts based, you've likely assimilated that society's labels are arbitrary and determined in large part by competitive interests, because there is less of a fundamental truth than they would imply once established. Since this is a software engineering forum, we tend to expect more objectivity in our labels. Ironically when you think about it because software labels are so obviously artificial.

Re: Group of monkeys kill over 250 dogs for 'revenge' in Indian town

#183
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a general rule, animals never attack first. When humans encroach the traditional lands of the animals there are conflicts waiting to happen. Monkeys are smart and usually don’t bother humans, unless it’s a matter of food or threat to their group. Edit: I'm surprised at the downvotes, isn't human-wildlife conflict in Indian forests well documented?

As a general rule that’s true but useless. Humans are relatively large animals that most creatures don’t want to mess with. But a hippo for example isn’t discouraged by this. Also the deadliest North American wildlife is the deer almost entirely because they’re jumping in front of cars.

> Also the deadliest North American wildlife is the deer

Actually, the deadliest North American wildlife is the mosquito.

Re: Group of monkeys kill over 250 dogs for 'revenge' in Indian town

#184

This is the most interesting part: "We've seen that when an individual is attacked in some way, the likelihood of them attacking someone related to their aggressor is higher," Poindexter told Gizmodo. "Typically there's a preference for attacking a third-party associated with the original aggressor, as opposed to the actual aggressor...for the most part, these acts of 'revenge' take place shortly after the attack." P…

I mean based on their intelligent behaviour it wouldn't be surprising to find out that they feel emotions like love towards their offspring (even if not necessarily in the exact same way as us) and they know how one feels at the loss of a loved one. So by extension, if they want to cause the greatest hurt to the opponent, hurting their loved ones would be quite effective.

Re: Group of monkeys kill over 250 dogs for 'revenge' in Indian town

#186

So I'm guessing that without intervention, two distinct sentient groups would be at constant warfare with each other until one group was extinct. Is this what happened with early hominids and why there aren't other creatures that have evolved to the same level of intelligence as humans?

Eating diets rich in fat was key for early hominid brain development. Probably why other creatures haven’t evolved to our levels of intelligence.

Re: Group of monkeys kill over 250 dogs for 'revenge' in Indian town

#187

I grew up and studied in a University town in Central India, not far from Majalgaon FTA. I've personally witnessed the rivalry of the monkeys and the pariah dogs. In one particular instance a youngish dog was chasing the monkeys and wouldn't let them get on the ground. The leader of the monkey gang made a sudden move, swooped down and carried the dog pup on the tree and just dropped it from there. The pup survived an…

Someone could crowdsource a documentary and launch their career with the money it would raise...

Re: Group of monkeys kill over 250 dogs for 'revenge' in Indian town

#189

I'm not sure if monkeys experience revenge the way humans do. As one of the comments mentioned in the article, it's probably just a survival instinct.

I doubt that. Try shooting an arrow at a crow (obviously not killing it) or throw a stone at a group of monkeys the next time chance presents it self. Not a good idea. One of my childhood nemesis were a group of crows from a tree nearby at which I shot an arrow with a home made toy bow (none were even hit). Those things harassed me for months before eventually forgetting (forgiving?) the incident :)

It is also possible to make friends with crows. You should have brought an offering of roasted nuts, and they would likely have made a truce.

Re: Group of monkeys kill over 250 dogs for 'revenge' in Indian town

#190
A relative who is a recent grad. from IIT Chennai/Madras has lots of monkey stories. They rule the dorms. No food in rooms, don't make eye contact.

It's not like don't make eye contact if you ever see one. The monkeys are sitting on the ledge all the way up on both sides of the stairs up to the second or third floor as you walk up to your dorm room!

They also "adopted" a stray dog just to chase the monkeys away.

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