Tango01 | 22 Jun 2019 9:12 p.m. PST |
"As we enjoy the return of Star Wars and its big-screen battles, is there also wee warfare going on under our feet? Saturday's Weird Animal Question of the Week is pondering this question after Elli Coates wrote in after seeing what she thought were termites in the African bush. "We were told they were going to war to eradicate a nearby ant [colony]. Would that have been true? Are there creatures out there that do go to war, other than humans?"…" Main page link Amicalement Armand
|
Thresher01 | 22 Jun 2019 9:32 p.m. PST |
"Bottom line? The term "war" is "inappropriate to describe conflict in the non-human animal kingdom," he says". Some types of ants fight one another, and attempt to kill each other off/exterminate their enemies (other ant colonies). Seems like the guy drew the wrong conclusion, since that sounds like the definition of "war" to me. Total war. Of course, that's not PC, since I suspect he's pushing a certain PC narrative, based upon his erroneous conclusion. |
Frederick | 23 Jun 2019 7:43 a.m. PST |
Hmmm – better to re-phrase the question Do animals fight? Fer sure and all the time! |
von Schwartz | 23 Jun 2019 11:03 a.m. PST |
Got to agree with Thresher01, this guy is definitely pushing an anti-war PC agenda. |
HMS Exeter | 23 Jun 2019 12:09 p.m. PST |
I saw a movie once where trees went to war. Ra-hoom-rah! |
Tango01 | 23 Jun 2019 3:50 p.m. PST |
|
robert piepenbrink | 23 Jun 2019 5:36 p.m. PST |
For war, by definition, you have to have politics. But you can have a lot of bloodshed without having a war. |
Oberlindes Sol LIC | 25 Jun 2019 10:23 a.m. PST |
"exterminate your enemies" That's not the definition of war. That's the definition of the crime of genocide. |
Jeffers | 26 Jun 2019 7:53 a.m. PST |
Surely the termites were committing insecticide? Come on, someone had to…. |
Puster | 26 Jun 2019 9:50 a.m. PST |
That's the definition of the crime of genocide. If insects do it to each other, is it still a crime? As they state in the article: Chimps certainly fight organized against other groups for territorial gains (including kills where they can), and sometimes kill other ape species for the fun of it. Of course to answer the origina question you DO need a definition on what war is, and what not, preferably before you look at the case at hand. So the question is how do we define "war". |
von Schwartz | 26 Jun 2019 6:37 p.m. PST |
Surely the termites were committing insecticide? Come on, someone had to…. I'll get your coat
|
Oberlindes Sol LIC | 06 Jul 2019 8:23 p.m. PST |
The other day, I committed attempted insecticide, and then became an accessory to insecticide, when I tried to kill an earwig on a wall by swatting it like a fly. The earwig dropped, but just before it reached the floor, it was caught by a messy spider web that I had assumed was a dust bunny. I was going to finish the job, when I saw that the earwig was stuck and struggling, so I got down there for a better look. A tiny little spider, much smaller than the earwig, kept running up to the earwig and presumably biting it, then running back to the middle of its web while the earwig tried to twist around and kill it with its pincer tail. After about 10 bites over the course of less than a minute, the earwig stopped most movement and was just twitching a little. I figured I didn't have to pay the spider, because I had just delivered it more meat than it would need to eat all summer. |
Bowman | 12 Jul 2019 1:48 p.m. PST |
That's not the definition of war. That's the definition of the crime of genocide. I don't think so. Genocide means killing of a genus, meaning a kind or race. Even if one ant colony attempts to fully wipe out the colony next to it as they are both competing for the same resources, I don't think that applies at all to the term "genocide". No ant colony is trying to destroy every ant colony. Just like the term "war", it is a human construct that applies to human behaviour. |
von Schwartz | 12 Jul 2019 3:11 p.m. PST |
because I had just delivered it more meat than it would need to eat all summer Naw, spiders have the appetite of a human, teenage, boy. |
Bowman | 13 Jul 2019 4:03 a.m. PST |
Spiders eat 10% of their body weight a day on average |
Jeffers | 16 Jul 2019 9:05 a.m. PST |
Big deal. My sister manages 20%. |
von Schwartz | 16 Jul 2019 2:52 p.m. PST |
|
Jeffers | 16 Jul 2019 4:13 p.m. PST |
I wish. Can't stand my brother in law, either. Insecticide! |