david f,

It is one of insoluble questions that are great to try and work out an answer.

The problem is that it exists and unfortunately a lot of our species fit the category.

We are the only species on Earth that kills and destroys other things for greed or pleasure. Not all of us, but definitely a lot of us.

Misopinionated,

It might be a good idea, before you get too far up yourself, to try to find some new idea that hasn't occurred to almost all of us many times.

You might have to wait until you've finished high school first: so read and observe and learn.

Joe

Dear Banjo,

Thank You for your summation of the forum.

You've put it very well.

Tolerance for all sorts of views
should be key to all discussions. However when
labelling and name - calling starts it lowers the
bar for everybody. Then one begins to question -
"Who on earth are these people, and where do they come
from?" Some appear to live in sewers from the way they
talk. Others are just plain bullies. But here as in
life, I guess it takes all sorts and in the forum's
case anonymity certainly eggs some on.

But then we get to be more selective in who we inter-act
with and who we avoid. There's enough choices on this
forum. So we can find common ground.

I am grateful
to people like yourself, and many others. You keep me
coming back. The others - don't really matter much in
the general scheme of things. They have their own
problems to contend with. I can leave them to it and not
let them affect me one way or another.

There's several here who have certain traits and
psychological make-ups that will never change.

Not much any of us can do. Except possible note how not
to behave

Mr Opinion wrote,‘We are the only species on Earth that kills and destroys other things for greed or pleasure. Not all of us, but definitely a lot of us.’

Dear Mr Opinion,

We are animals, act like other animals and other animals act like us. There are other species on Earth that kill and destroy other things for greed or pleasure.

https://www.quora.com/Do-any-animals-kill-for-fun?share=1

Domestic cats. Domestic cats are often fed by owners, so they don’t need to hunt animals for nutrition. However, their instincts make them hunt animals anyway. They will kill small animals and leave the bodies lying around. Usually they play with the animal beforehand, torturing it long before they finally kill it. Domestic cats are killing so many wild birds for fun that many species are endangered. Again, they leave the bodies around to rot. They are not doing it to eat. They are doing it for fun. Cats, domestic and wild, kill animals for fun. The mothers will often wound an animal, taking it back to their kittens to play with.

Domestic dogs often chase squirrels during walks. The owners feed them. However, their instinct is to chase and kill small animals.

Just about all mammalian carnivores hunt other animals for fun.

Sea otters kill seals leaving their bodies to rot. However, they have this other behavior of raping seals, before or after death.

Some squids gather together to mate. Sharks will swim through the swarm, eating squid as they go. This is for nutrition. The sharks will gorge until they are stuffed. They will then vomit up the squid meat emptying their stomachs. They then swim through the swarm some more, eating more squid. I count that as ‘fun’, since they really didn’t have to eat so much squid.

david f,

Very interesting.

I'm a sociologist not a zoologist but I do find the sciences fascinating and like learning from them.

I do have a question: Is the animal behaviour you're describing instinctive behaviour where the cat for example is biologically programmed to do these things and cannot decide whether or not it should behave in this manner? Humans can: we can decide whether or not to kill for pleasure. I don't think the animals you describe above can do that. I think they act on instinct.

Dear Mr Opinion,

I don't think we can separate instinctual behaviour from pleasurable behaviour. Behaviour may become instinctual because it is pleasurable. A cat torturing a mouse may get pleasure from torturing a mouse. Before Linnaeus humans used to produce bestiaries which would describe species of animals but not include humans. Linnaeus described humans as animals. Humans are classified as mammals because humans have the same distinctive features found in all members of this large group. Humans are also classified within: the subgroup of mammals called primates; and the subgroup of primates called apes and in particular the 'Great Apes'. We lack some of the ways of showing pleasure that other animals are capable of. We don't purr.