Need link for a grateful and affectionate lion, seen on DU, a short while back.

[pnorman]

A woman who ran an animal clinic, took in a lion that had been seriously abused by a circus. she had nurtured that lion back to physical and mental health. The article included a film clip of her banging on the cage bars to get the lion's attention. The lion came up, and putting it's paws through the bars, completely embraced her, and also nuzzled her face. Completely UNBELIEVABLE! I lost the link, but would like to send it to a friend. Help?

pnorman

[IDemo]

1. Youtube video here->

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRqJgjuETMI

link to story: http://www.local6.com/spotlight/10726779/detail.html

[pnorman]

2. WOW!! THAT WAS FAST! Thank you!

I couldn't Google it to save my soul! I LOVE my DU community!

pnorman

[Patchuli]

3. At an Earth Festival last year

there was a man who brings his wolves that were rescued from some sad similar situation. He walked up to the enclosure they were in and one of them, a huge female stood up and put her paws around him and nuzzled him. It was the oddest and neatest thing to see a legendary predator of man embracing him for the love he had shown her.

And let's not forget, Christian the Lion.

http://www.kimbawlion.com/christian.htm

[1monster]

4. Legendary is the correct word. From what I understand, there is

no record in the United States of wolves ever treating man as prey. It is strictly the other way around.

[Patchuli]

5. I know that

although I don't think I'd want to meet a pack of wild wolves in the wildnerness! I despise those 'hunters' in Alaska who "aerially hunt" wolves. What kind of a p*ssy hunts like that? I think they if they're determined to find their nads by killing innocent creatures minding their own business in their home, they ought to meet them on the ground. OTOH, I despise hunting in general unless it is literally for survival.

[Cheap_Trick]

6. Cheny

strikes me as the kind of pussy who would hunt like that.

[frogcycle]

7. ahem

you insult all the pussies of the world

[frogcycle]

8. while some are guilty of ascribing TOO MUCH human-like

characteristics to various animals, usually their pets, it is my considered opinion that the "conventional wisdom" prevalent in science that "dumb animals" can't "think" and don't have emotions is a big crock. It stems from the religious dominance in the middle ages as modern science was emerging. the pope said that the bible says we're different - "made in god's image" - so there must be this vast gulf between humans and all animals. So intelligent social animals like whales, wolves, lions, chimps, etc were all said to be equivalent to a grasshopper in brainpower.

We still have strong vestiges of that today. Animal behaviorists insist they don't see what they see - that the critters can ONLY be exhibiting pavlovian responses.

That is what makes me so furious about all the handwringing over stem cells, assisted suicide, etc. Because they are "human life" we sanctify them, but we can put elephants in zoos where they can barely turn around, kill animals for fur or supposed aphrodesiacs, whatever. Or just for the "sport" of it.

I saw a fantastic program a year or so ago - probably on animal planet - about a place in Tn. that takes in "rescue" elephants from zoos and circuses. They provide veterinary care, usually a lot needed, and have a cpl hundred acres the herd roams. STILL less than they'd have naturally.
So they showed this newly-rescued elephant from some fleabag circus, in pretty bad shape with a bad foot, when she arrived. She was put in a holding pen separate from the others just to be cautious; the herd came back from the field and one broke away and rushed to the fence, reached through, and the two intertwined trunks. They had been in the same circus THIRTY YEARS earlier!

The next day the newcomer was escorted by her old friend - she could not keep up because of her bad foot, so the other stayed back, walked with her, showed her the way to wherever the herd went in the daytime.

[VOX]

9. Fascinating post! Cats demonstrate *adaptable behavioral ecology*...

Which is a sign of intelligence beyond instinct or conditioning. This is per Julia Albright, MA, DVM and animal behavior resident at Cornell University's College of Veterinary Medicine, as quoted in the school's January newsletter.

The article goes on to describe that, in the wild, cats are asocial, leading solitary lives (other than mating). Female domesticated cats and lions are the only cat species that raise their young in groups. However, even cats that normally live and hunt alone will congregate around a watering hole or a shady spot. In other words, they learn the value of a social network, without really having any specific biological need to do so.

According to researchers at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, the physical structure of a human brain and that of cats is very similar; they have lobes in the cerebral cortex (the "seat" of intelligence) as we do, and human and cat brains also function in the same way, conveying data via identical neurotransmitters. Therefore, our thinking is similar to the extent that both humans and cats take in and process data from five senses, and from there, make *decisions*. And that ability to make decisions is the key that differentiates a certain kind of intelligence -- one that can learn by observation and make choices -- from, say, animals that only exhibit hard-wired, instinctive responses to stimuli.

Very cool post. Thanks, frogcycle -- :toast:

[frogcycle]

10. thank you!

The examples of animals learning new behaviors through something other than rote pavlovian training are everywhere. The large part of the population who continue to deny it are, to me, like flat-earthers and creationsists.

And yet even respected scientists try to explain away tool use and teaching it to young or comrades (eg, chimps or baboons "fishing" for termites) as 'just' rote behavior.

Some of those pet tricks on animal planet go well beyond "tricks". Those critters are having fun.

Recent Nat Geo article about humpback whales told of calves playing on mom's back - momma will raise them up out of the water on her (snout? -whatever) and go hydroplaning until they slide off. Some whales have been observed doing the same with dolphins. A diver was swimming near a humpback - it reached around with a flipper, and gently pulled him in front of its eye for a better look.

Even animals without complex brains like the cats exhibit capabilities that are difficult to dismiss out of hand. I have read stories of octopuses (octopi?) in captivity learning how to get out of the tank, cross the room, get into another tank, eat the critters there - and then be sure to go back to the proper tank before anyone comes along. OK, so maybe they just "instinctively " were compelled by evolution to return to their personal "territory". But nothing in evolution taught them to unscrew the lid of a jar.

[pnorman]

11. Thanks. That "insight" more or less confirms my gut feelings in this.

I enjoy the company of all animals, particularly cats. But, perhaps out of fear of being ridiculed, I've refrained from ascribing "human-like" behavior to them. It's still a good precaution, but no more than a precaution.

pnorman