A chicken is scared. They are born yellow. They cannot fly: they must be afraid of heights. During death it is hunted. Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
A Duckaphant is terrified It is dropped from 2 metres when born and are yellow and grey They can't swim they must be terrified of water During death it is dying Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Chickens and animals live in the present and respond only if there is stimulus. Unlike humans, they don't dwell on their fears, but are prepared to instinctively act if a reality situation was to appear. Humans have two centers of consciousness, instead of one. They have the instinctive center like the chicken, which reacts based on need. But we also have an ego center, which can make choices apart from instinct. One such choice is to live in the imaginary and hypothetical world, where we can react like it is happening in real time or about to happen in real time, even if it is not.
............. Ode to a mouse: http://www.robertburns.org.uk/Assets/Poems_Songs/toamouse.htm ... But Mousie, thou are no thy-lane, In proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley, An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy! Still, thou art blest, compar'd wi' me! The present only toucheth thee: But Och! I backward cast my e'e, On prospects drear! An' forward, tho' I canna see, I guess an' fear!
Apologies, the last sentence within the opening post is confusing. Chickens are scared during life because they are going to die.
I agree that it's difficult to see how they can have the idea that they will die, but I can't agree with the second statement because I don't know what it means. As I type, I can see our two chickens having a glorious mudbath. They quite obviously enjoy it, and they enjoy the treats they are spoilt with. One of them gets distressed when the other disappears to lay an egg. I spend some time watching the lizards in our garden, and they exhibit some fascinating behaviour. A male will challenge a male, and if there is the tiniest size difference, the smaller will retreat. How could that happen if a lizard were not aware of his size and the size of his opponent? They love scrambled egg, and they lick their lips afterwards. They have the concept of taste. Something must be going on in the brain to register that. Does that constitute "being alive"? (I'm asking)
No. Chickens are not afraid of death AT ALL. They are, however, ashamed that their death may be seen as futile or ignominious. A chicken's ideal death would be to go down fighting against overwhelming odds, such as 1 (blindfolded) chicken vs. a single Tyrannosaurus Rex - no, make that THREE of them, or a half-trained platoon of chickens taking on a galactic empire. Content edited to avoid DrKrettin's linguistic inquiries Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
We know we are alive - we understand that there is life, death and non-life. A chicken cannot have those abstract thoughts. That is all I meant.
I remember a trip to a botanic garden in La Reunion, where there happened to be a cock with 3 hens, lying together in the sunshine. They looked very comfortable and it was interesting how the hens snuggled up to the cock, who looked as pleased as Punch and smoothed their feathers with his beak. I am quite sure these creatures were exhibiting a primitive form of affection for one another.
The only thing I can challenge here is the plural of tyrannosaurus rex. 1) tyrannosauri rex 2) tyrannosaurus reges 3) tyrannosauri reges. Man, this is a tough one. And do they have capital letters?