[MD] Dynamic within static.

[Platt Holden]

> > [Platt]
> > Animals have memory but not the capacity to pass it on from one
> generation
> > to the next. What they do have is instinct -- a static pattern of
> behavior
> > without choice, preventing them from responding to DQ. Plants, ants
> and
> > antelopes are stuck.
> >
> > [Krimel]
> > One might as easily say that genetic memory, passed from parent to
> > offspring, uniquely prepares each generation with the capacity to
> respond
> > to DQ.
> >
> mel:
> Animals DO have the capacity to pass on
> experience from one generation to the next.
> It is decidedly more limited than man's capacity,
> but present nonetheless.
> 
> Look at the hunt-by-example display a mother
> bear/lion/wolf shows her young.  It is not by
> words, but by actions.
> 
> If it were purely hard-wired-instinct there would
> be no need to teach the young.  The niche of
> some animals requires no additional teaching,
> but mammals, especially predators and their
> herd prey, often need to learn skills not in their
> bodies at birth.
> 
> thanks--mel
> 
> [Krimel]
> Teasing out which parts of behavior result from nature and which from
> nurture is an ongoing issue in psychology and certainly in biology.
> Reptiles
> and insects seem to require little in the way of nurture. The higher up
> the
> food chain we go the more nurturing is required and yet the hand of
> nature
> is always present. Even in humans language, while learned, evidences a
> strong biological component. We are biologically predisposed to learn
> certain things at certain times. But yes, animals can even be shown to
> pass
> along learned novel behaviors. The example of chimpanzee's termite
> fishing
> comes to mind. Not all chimpanzee troops evidence this behavior but it
> is
> wide spread in troops that have discovered the skill.
 
Has anyone identified the chimp who was first to fish for termites?

Platt