Why are we the only species that kills each other for NO reason??

i mean like random murders and war just for more teritory. :x

We are not the only species that kill each other.

Lions,
Rabbits eat their own young
Gorillas have been known to have a good ole go

I know what you are getting at, but haven't you noticed, a large amount of the population don't care or cannot be arsed to do anything about it :(

Moon Maiden

Originally posted by "Jon"

Why are we the only species that kills each other for NO reason??

i mean like random murders and war just for more teritory. :x

I think you'd find it hard to argue that there is NO reason. No reasonable reason I'd go with, but whilst most killing (war) is senseless, it is motivated by a rationale (security of future oil supplies for example)

I think you can look at it two ways, individual and mass behaviour.

As individuals we are not that different, in terms of violence inflicted upon others, from Chimpanzees. Thankfully only a very small number of us actually do go out and inflict death and suffering directly on other individuals.

On a mass behaviour scale it is harder to discern. If a large group of people feel threatened by anything, competition for resources, other people who speak a different language - these fears rarely break out into mass violence without some agitating factor, a rabble rouser (GWB)

We are the only species who are aware of what death is - ie that it is the end of our existance. That means we're the only species who are scared of it so its used as the ultimate punishment/threat.

Hi John,
Violence is inherent in human nature because we come from the violent Universe, We are part and parcel of the vast eons of space where titanic explosions, collapsed stars, collide and there is constant turmoil that has been occuring for fifteen billion years.

Plus the fact that we have a prehistoric instinct for survival that has carried us through millions of years against over whelming odds. Just imagine what it would have been like living as a cave man or woman, having to kill ferocious wild animals for food, as one could not survive on roots for ever.

This instinct is in our nature, so it has become a predictable response to outside influences and that aggression is within us, leading sometimes to killing and murder ,for, in many cases no reason at all. :evil: :evil: :evil:

good answer Halevan! although we went from gathering nuts and killing huge ferocious animals onto eating root veg and other general agriculture, at which point the human population began to slowly, but inexorably, to explode

Kitty, I'm not just disagreeing with you for the sake of it, but there have been many documented incidents of higher mammals from lemurs to dolphins, inidcating an understanding of death (usually at the hands of humans). how limited that understanding is, it is obviioulsy difficult to say, but in the case of Washoe and the other signing chimps they were well aware of death, not just for others but for themselves (if you believe they actually did really learn sign language)

I think the more worrying question is why do we do WORSE things than just kill each other?

Chimps are furry balls of evil. They do hunt down chimps from other neighbouring groups and kill/mutilate them. We're certainly not the only species to do it for no reason.

Also, I agree with Phanerothyme, we are not the only species aware of what death is. We are obviously the only ones who can document and portray it, but many animals go through what appears to be an understanding of what death is to a family member. Check out in particular elephant mothers in mourning for their young/group members.

I think the more worrying question is why do we do WORSE things than just kill each other?

Generally we as humans accept the fact that at some stage we will die..and to a point don't fear it. What we do fear is how we die. Some will use and act upon that fear. One way to strike fear into your opponent is not to send him flowers...but tear him apart limb by limb, slowly.

We evolved in a scenario where food supplies were unreliable, and any method of enlarging and securing your own food supply, by removing other humans from other tribes who might eat it, was a good thing.

That instinct is still deep within us, even though it has long since ceased to be a beneficial one and now does far more harm than good.

We are the only species who are aware of what death is - ie that it is the end of our existance. That means we're the only species who are scared of it so its used as the ultimate punishment/threat.

All species are aware of what death is. If they weren't they wouldn't try so damned hard to survive.

Why are we the only species that kills each other for NO reason??

i mean like random murders and war just for more teritory. :xThere's a reason for everything we do. We're the only species that kill one another for finacial gain/pleasure though.

Generally we as humans accept the fact that at some stage we will die..and to a point don't fear it. What we do fear is how we die. Some will use and act upon that fear. One way to strike fear into your opponent is not to send him flowers...but tear him apart limb by limb, slowly.

Opponent?

I don't mean like that, I was thinking more along the lines of people like Josef Fritzl

There's a reason for everything we do. We're the only species that kill one another for finacial gain/pleasure though.

well, the equivalent of money in animal terms must surely be food - and animals certainly kill each other over food. And territory, which humans also do.

Opponent?

I don't mean like that, I was thinking more along the lines of people like Josef Fritzl


I meant opponent in a war/conflict sense...as that's what I'd presumed (wrongly) you meant.

Sorry couldn't read your mind so I just carried on with my interpretation. In the case of Fritzl the girl was a victim. Man's ability when it comes to inflicting pain and misery on one another is unsurpassed in inventiveness, inc Fritzle.

we are the only species that kills for whatever reason that can actually think about the whyfores and consequences?

we are the only species that kills for whatever reason that can actually think about the whyfores and consequences?
Don't flatter yourself!

Even magpies have funerals.

We evolved in a scenario where food supplies were unreliable, and any method of enlarging and securing your own food supply, by removing other humans from other tribes who might eat it, was a good thing.

That instinct is still deep within us, even though it has long since ceased to be a beneficial one and now does far more harm than good.

There is still parts of the world who don't have regular food supply and definitely no production.

Even in the other parts of the world where food is somewhat abundant, for how long has this actually been?

In the majority of cases, humans are the only species that do not eat the ones they kill.
[yes, I know there's always an exception!]

Why are we the only species that kills each other for NO reason??

i mean like random murders and war just for more teritory. :x

we aren't.

Chimpanzees can have brutal wars for territories, where they'll do things like isolate the children of another tribe and then beat them to death, and rape the females, etc.

We aren't special in that regard.

In the majority of cases, humans are the only species that do not eat the ones they kill.
[yes, I know there's always an exception!]

There are really quite a lot of exceptions: Dogs, Cats (both domestic and wild varieties of both), so that's at least several dozen species right there. Then you have great apes, and foxes.

In the majority of cases, of course its true, but that's because the majority of animals are not at the top of the food chain.

So we are saying that other animals take pleasure in killing in the same pathological way The Crossbow Cannibal did for example?. I mean I am aware animals fight territorially and over the opposite sex but can a dog go out and strangle choke say a small female patterdale with its lead, defacate on it then pleasure itself to finish. Are we the only species where pathological killing/sex killing etc takes place because I would imagine we are. Feel free to correct me as I have an opinion but am in no way sure?

There are really quite a lot of exceptions: Dogs, Cats (both domestic and wild varieties of both), so that's at least several dozen species right there. Then you have great apes, and foxes.

In the majority of cases, of course its true, but that's because the majority of animals are not at the top of the food chain.

I didn't say animals killed the same species though.
They all kill other animals - and munch them.

Except those that eat grass :roll:

So we are saying that other animals take pleasure in killing in the same pathological way The Crossbow Cannibal did for example?. I mean I am aware animals fight territorially and over the opposite sex but can a dog go out and strangle choke say a small female patterdale with its lead, defacate on it then pleasure itself to finish. Are we the only species where pathological killing/sex killing etc takes place because I would imagine we are. Feel free to correct me as I have an opinion but am in no way sure?

I wouldn't be surprised at all if similar behaviour turned up in some of our larger brained cousins like chimps and elephants.
There's currently no way to know either way because we know so little about psychology (we still don't even understand ourselves, let alone other species!)

I didn't say animals killed the same species though.
They all kill other animals - and munch them.

Except those that eat grass :roll:

I must have got confused, I read your post as saying this:

"In the majority of cases, humans are the only species that do not eat the ones they kill."

I was just pointing out that there are lots of animals that do not eat the ones they kill. Dogs, cats, tigers, lions, wolves, foxes, chimpanzees, elephants.

I wasn't talking about animals that killed the same species. Cats kill mice and birds and don't eat them, mine does it all the time. Dogs kill small mammals and birds and don't eat them. Foxes kill far more than they eat, elephants sometimes kill humans, and they're herbivores!

ok............... but we digress.

what a silly topic title.

the murder rate among lions in Kruger National Park in South Africa is far higher than it is among human beings in Johanesburg, and that's when they're not using guns and knives.

provided somebody isn't an athropomorphic imbecile, one doesn't have to observe just about any kind of animal for very long to see that it has rivals for food and sex and hates their guts.

Why are we the only species that kills each other for NO reason??

All animals kill for a reason (including ourselves - however misguided that reason is).

war just for more teritory.

All animals attack each other for territory (chimps have also been seen to attack and drive out of the troop a single individual - to the point of death).

well, the equivalent of money in animal terms must surely be food - and animals certainly kill each other over food. And territory, which humans also do.What a ridiculous thing to say.

All animals need food to survive. Survival is instinctive to every animal with humans being no exception.

Money is a commodity to humans not a necessity.

Animals have no natural or instinctive reason to kill each other for a commodity such as money and humans once again are no exception.

What a ridiculous thing to say.

All animals need food to survive. Survival is instinctive to every animal with humans being no exception.

Money is a commodity to humans not a necessity.

Animals have no natural or instinctive reason to kill each other for a commodity such as money and humans once again are no exception.

But it is the equivalent if you don't just take it at face value - money is our modern equivalent of food in that it is what, in the majority of cases, people use to get food. Nowadays, if you live in certain places, money is an essential - why do you think it is the poor that generally have less food?

And that is without going into the animals that use food to trade (eg some monkeys trade food for sex) which makes it even more equivalent.

Why are we the only species that kills each other for NO reason??

i mean like random murders and war just for more teritory. :x

i think its down to free will and religion.

humans are not the only species that kills each other

chimpanzees sometimes wage war for territory (http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE65K48G20100621)

Why are we the only species that kills each other for NO reason??

i mean like random murders and war just for more teritory. :x

prayin mantis kill each other after sex

Male Robins (the bird) fight to the death over territory.