-Caveat Lector- from: http://www.zolatimes.com/V2.41/pageone.html <A HREF="http://www.zolatimes.com/V2.41/pageone.html">Laissez Faire City Times - Volume 2 Issue 41</A> The Laissez Faire City Times December 7, 1998 - Volume 2, Issue 41 Editor & Chief: Emile Zola ----- Point of View >From the Nose of a Dog by Nina von Altendorf Every year 5 million lovable pooches are murdered because we just don't give a damn. This is the story of how you came to be such a competent, talkative and evolved human being. It may surprise you, but I think that by the end of this tale, you will say "I knew that all along". About 100,000 years ago we all were wandering over the face of the earth, nibbling here and there. Some of us, members of Homo Erectus, evolved with a smaller, flatter face, but essentially our brain size was the same as our Neanderthal cousins. Although we differed in mild respects physically, both types of humans behaved similarly. We buried our dead, used fire and tools, cared for the old ones and raised kids. We hunted and gathered together on the planet and lived side by side from 120,000 years ago till about 30,000 years past. Then came a crucial moment in our evolution. Homo Sapiens survived and the Neanderthal did not. This fact is rather curious since they were bigger and stronger than us, with huge noses and large muscles. It would seem that they had an advantage to ensure their survival over us. So why did we survive and they didn't? The Homo Sapiens, having a smaller flatter face with a narrower nose subsequently lost the accurate sense of smell that had allowed us to smell danger. Our olfactory bulb (nerve for smell) is the smallest among all human species, and when it went, about 14,000 years ago, we were ready to gain speech. This was due to the fact that we could now lift our lighter heads upward and forward giving us an advantage in seeing our prey, and free up the voice box to reverberate sounds. Roaming around in the forest one day, this hard working human (Homo Sapien) was busy gathering whatever the missus needed back at camp. Twigs, roots and the occasional lizard for lunch. These trusty dads had already spotted the rather large and scary four-legged wolf. The noise of the howling in the moonlight was quite a familiar sound to any village gathering. As food was cooked the smell was a powerful temptation to these mysterious animals and they would inch their way towards the camp, nibbling and scavenging the remains of the day. Presenting no apparent threat to the villages, who determined they were not about to be wolf lunch, wolves just sort of moved in on the happy campers and became a familiar part of the commune. They got to eat without too much effort of hunting and humans got their first pets. Wolves share a crucial similarity to humans. They are both social animals with complex communication. The wolf is highly skilled visually and reads information via body language. They watch each other's faces and movements and interpret gestures with a high degree of accuracy. They teach their young by complex movements and gestures just like us. Humans are nearly identical in this skill of reading the body language of other humans since so much is nonverbal in the way we move and gesticulate. So it's not surprising to discover that the human brain has 25 percent of its area devoted to visual ability. We are all aware that oftimes language is saying one thing and that movements and fine gestures are communicating something else. Life in and around the camp adjusted to the presence of the wolf. But an added boon became apparent very quickly. Since the sense of smell in humans had reduced their ability to detect oncoming prey, the noisy wolves sounded the alert when danger was immanent, because they could smell for miles. This interdependence was a cozy situation for both. Each understood the other in an easy symbiosis. For the wolf this was a good deal and they knew it. They chose us and in time man's best friend was the result. Despite our thinking that our favorite Benji understands the words we use, he still only recognizes the gestures, movements and the tonal sound of emotion, as any one who yells at a dog will know. They refuse to cooperate with irrational humans. All mammalian mothers are nurturing and, as new little wolf puppies arrived, human mothers and fathers took great pleasure in fussing and playing with them. Like human babies, wolf pups have big eyes and large heads, are playful and highly sociable. This nurturing behavior flooded us with gentling chemicals that assisted in developing our humanity and compassion for little things, and contributed to our domestication. Wild animals stay playful for a very short time after birth. One moment they are tumbling and silly, the next their fangs are bared and lunch becomes their focus. This is a result of chemicals in the brain which are solely for the flight or fight response. Fear ensures alertness to seek safety from prey, and aggression is necessary to grab dinner. In time, what we call domestication of animals results. They never pass through the playful stage because the actual physical makeup of their brains is altered and wolves remained eternal children. They have been changed by breeding combinations and ever- deepening socialization. The result is Fido and Fifi. They are not only tamed but are domesticated and quite helpless to fend for themselves, and are still willing to live alongside us whether it be a fifth avenue condo or the family farmyard. Back in the primitive camp, the humans and wolves lived happily together. Our habitats were suitable for the new tenants. A zone of security was established for both. They understood us and we had no problem with them living side by side. As scavengers they kept the yard clean, devouring remains, feces and debris from life au naturel. We avoided diseases, began oohing and aahing at the pups and our Neanderthal cousins bit the dust of history while we got an alarm system that allowed us to defend ourselves from dangerous prey such as tigers, bears and lions that did see us as lunch, giving us an evolutionary advantage. Voila! The Human Being emerged from the woods and created the world we live in. The illusion man suffers from is that God created the animals solely for our use, and that we, as humans, are supreme. But the majestic Wolf chose us, and ensured our survival. All dogs today demonstrate that they share 75 percent of their DNA with the ancestral wolf. All dogs are the direct descendants of one Wolf Mother, who in her wisdom and intelligence chose us frail and vulnerable humans to hang out with. Roaming around Australia, the Dingo is the last remaining base stock of all dogs on earth, and it faces extinction. In any third world country, the dog still shares the village and town with humans in peaceful coexistence, still cleaning up the yard as scavengers. Here in the West, we shampoo, groom, decorate and show off dogs as status symbols and when we tire of them, we consign them to the junk heap of mass graves because we just can't be bothered any more. They cramp our style, need to be cared for, walked and fed, and it's just too much bloody work, isn't it? And what about the vet bills? Too big a responsibility, we say. It was okay when it was small and cute, but now we are much too busy to continue the responsibility. And what do we do to these creatures who gave us our evolutionary chance? We murder them in the millions when they are no longer convenient. In the eons that have passed, when no technology was around to help us protect and defend ourselves, when we were easy snacks for fiercer and bigger animals, the Wolf chose us to live with and in so doing, ensured our survival. Ingratitude is the hallmark of man and a fundamental character flaw that has wrecked much of our planet. Man needs to be humbled and rid himself of the superior arrogance that he, and he alone, is godlike. The Earth that brought us forth suffers in ruin because we continue to believe that nature must be dominated and controlled. Look to the religion of Christianity and Judaism for culpability, my friends. We are not supreme, and no subordinate life form was created for our convenience. Perhaps a return to a symbiotic stewardship, in acknowledgment of our gratitude, for a wise decision by a Wolf, will herald our maturity. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Nina von Altendorf is President of The Cthonia Institute. -30- from The Laissez Faire City Times, Vol. 2, No. 41, Dec. 7, 1998 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Laissez Faire City Times is a private newspaper. 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