How come Canadian geese are more family-oriented than humans?

[Deja Q]

Witness:

* Take one of the pair away, the other will go looking for its missing mate.

* Take away a few pairs of adults, and if the babies are old enough they'll find the remaining adults and form a bigger flock.

I have the privilege of working in an area that's being (overly) developed by neo-yuppies. Hummers, expensive condos as far as the eye can see, etc.

Canadian geese thrive in this area.

Or used to.

Last year there were several of adult couples with 4~6 babies.

This year there originally was several adult couples, with 4-6 babies. But a month later, it's down to 3 couples and THIRTY babies. The adults wear big unnatural collars around their necks.

Meanwhile, with humanity:

Take away one of the human couple and the other looks for somebody else post haste.

Take away the children and the couple will just make some more.

Birds know what community and survival are about. This ironically makes them more civilized than humanity, which is hell bent on uber-individualism-gone-amok.

Sad.

[Book Lover]

1. You remind me of

the first book in "The Once and Future King" Merlin changes Arthur in many different animals during his tutelage, and the final one is as a waterfowl. TH White's point was much the same as yours.

[Deja Q]

2. I will look that book up...

Thanks!

TH White was very astute. We can learn a lot from animals, who amusingly are far more pro-family than the right wingnutjobs in power.

[Book Lover]

3. Animals have to live with

the results of their decisions. I can't speak to the congitive dissonance rightwingers with families to feed live with.

I am nearly certain you will enjoy the book. It is a volume that is made of several (Sword in the Stone, Witch in the Wood, The Ill-Made Knight, and Candle in the Wind) books THW wrote over the course of several years, all telling the full story of King Arthur.

http://www2.netdoor.com/~moulder/thwhite/toafk_b.html