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- Observations
-
- All of the essays have one thing incommon, they all deal with observing
- animals. And with their observation comes at times interaction. They
- might "mingle" with these animals. Or the observers would just sit there
- and do what they are supposed to, observe.
-
- Our race, is naturally curious and interested in the unknown. In other
- words what we do not know or understand we try to understand. We try to
- understand our surroundings. In doing this, we would have gained
- knowledge.
-
- In Mowat's essay, "Observing Wolves", Mowat attempts to make first
- contact by urinating his "territory". And he observes the wolves social
- structure. He know that the wolves are observing him as well in his
- essay. And he wonders if they would act the way they do around humans.
-
- In Goodall's essay, "First Observations", Goodall makes actual physical
- contact with one of the chimpazees. But she does nothing to try to get
- closer to them. Instead she goes on a scientific approach towards the
- situation. She observes the chimpazees actually eating meat. She was
- extremely surprised because the rest of the world thought that chimpazees
- were vegetarians. She also observed the chimpazees making the use of
- tools. Such as sticking a blade of grass into a termite mound to get at
- the insects.
-
- In Booth's essay, "The Social Lives of Dolphins", Booth draws a parallel
- between the lives of dolphins and the lives of chimpazees. He compares
- the two creatures showing their likenesses. With some minor differences.
- This essay is based on observations of another group as well, who were
- Conner and Smolker (undergraduate students 1982).
-
- With the work of all the observers, it seem that even though we have been
- on this earth for a million years. We are now just beginning to
- understand it. The essays seems to say "We are beginning to understand
- ourselves."