I wrote:

> You won’t see the vicious competition between individuals if there happen to be a lot of them around with insufficient sites for nest building. <

‘Nest’?? Should have been ‘web’ of course! Sheesh!

.

<< Humans are nature's most despicable creature >>

I don’t think so, David G. All the traits that we humans have that we consider to be bad are abundantly evident in nature, and indeed are necessary in nature for individuals and whole species to survive.

We just happen to have the power to do it all on a much larger scale.

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Daffy, in reference to the article via your link: I think that the concept of contemplation in any animal with a less-developed brain than a chimpanzee or at least any primate, cetaceans and perhaps the smartest of canines, felines and birds, is just bizarre.

Lizards, insects, fish, etc….. do they contemplate? Surely not!

Contemplation necessitates thinking, does it not?

Even the ‘smartest’ animals cannot really think, and can only contemplate to the most rudimentary level, if at all!

Ian you claim "I'm not naive", then write this fairyland stuff.

Ludwig gives you the facts in spades.

You are like my youngest daughter. The one who has wild magpies eating out of her fingers. The one who adopted a kitten to prevent it being put down. The one who is so upset by the little patch of feathers when that now grown kitten has torn apart another bird, that my wife wants me to clean them up before she sees them.

The facts mate are that your pretty killing machine, the spiders web will kill more in its short life, than most people will in a century, just like that one kitten saved will kill dozens of other creatures in it's lifetime.

It is just this unreal dreaming that leads to much hurt & damage.

the erudite Luddite/quote..<<..Lizards, insects, fish, etc…..
do they contemplate? Surely not!

Contemplation necessitates thinking, does it not?>>

no thought required
i cant stop my THINKING..[LIKE YOU]..LUDWIG]
but pleasE..ALLOW THAT WHEN NOT HUNTING FOOD..or rather aFter fuly satiating..their hunger..WHAT ELSE TO DO..BUT CONTEMPLATE..

our contentment..AT ITS PEAH..PIR HINGER SATISFIED..NOW CONTENT..to just sit/watching THE WORLD..GO BY

not thinking..[mindlessness..beasts
are EXPERT AT THIS/MANY HUMANS ADEPT TO IT TOO

[by reliving past joys]..how the hunt went as planned..or even just filly sated just sitting/watching..UNTHINKINGLY..AS g.the world go by..cause there is no other distracting need calling for meetin

<<..>>Even the ‘smartest’ animals cannot really think,>>

PROOF?

<< and can only contemplate
to the most rudimentary level, if at all!..>>

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=contemplate+synonym&

i wouLD GO BACK..AND DO THE RESEARCH
BUT..IM GOING BACK TO Contemplating my past words
just as any thinking life..contemplates..before it Masticates /ruminates..in LIFES MANY LEVELS OF POSSABle comtemplations

There is vicious competition between all living things. Nature is a constant life or death struggle.

Disney and idiotic crocodile whisperers are about entertainment, but profit first.

If anyone wants to know about nature at work there are those feral pigs eating the turtles in North Qld, the foxes pulling lambs out of their mothers and the packs of wild dogs that are common everywhere and tear the udders and leg ligaments from cows for fun. Rule .243Win works.

Humans are capable of wondrous things. It is only the few who do wrong. They should not be protected from the punishment they deserve and understand, and before the attempted rehabilitation which most of them scorn anyhow.

<<the emotions that animals seldom suffer – greed, hatred, anger, envy.>>

But animals don't experience serenity either.

First, in order to leave the natural state of unconscious, instinct-driven inertia, man must apply his will-power to achieve results. Unfortunately, greed, hatred, anger and envy are the by-products of wilfulness.

It's only once one had enough and is consciously through with wilfulness that one gains serenity. While outwardly the behaviour of a serene person may look similar to the natural state, their actual experience is totally different - unlike animals, they are fully conscious, fully aware, but without desires and aggression.

Ludwig

‘You won’t see that the male spiders have to risk their lives in order to mate with the much larger female, and that many of them do indeed die at the hands (hairy legs and fangs) of their mate, either before or after mating.’

Oh, for goodness sake! When are we ever going to put that ridiculous myth to rest?

Tales of the cannibalistic female spider eating her mate has grown way out of all proportion to the truth – a bit like all that highly dubious ‘research’ purporting to show that women commit as much domestic violence as men do.

Cannibalism in spiders only occurs in exceptional cases, and even then, only in some species, mainly the Latrodectus. Among those rare exceptions, spider offspring are also known to kill their mothers with similar frequency to females killing their mates. Males are also known to kill females.

But, hey, don’t let that get in the way of a good deadlier-than-the-male myth.

And while we’re on this thread about the ‘human’ propensity for violence, just take a look at which gender is committing all that violence. It ain’t the women.