Gulls attracted to their predators
Last night, one of the rather small and younger cats dragged a large bird into the house. The bird was still alive, but we couldn't save it. We were sort of talking, because normally, we don't see birds, or hear them, at night. It looked sort of like a pigeon, but I'm not sure. I just couldn't figure out where the cat FOUND a bird in the middle of the night and I'm always sort of amazed at how the cats catch them. I was looking around for information and I found this article rather intriguing, because people have posted about "studying" the Ns and like ... to better understand how they "work" as well as doing their work on healing themselves. I thought it was sort of interesting that maybe there is something in our minds, in our survival instincts, that does "raise our curiosity", especially once we realize the danger.
But I found it interesting, as I explored further, to discover that many animals, including gulls, will actually communicate amongst themselves and form mobs to drive a predator off. Mobbing is also used to distract predators who prey on young or on eggs. Mobbed predators fail to locate nests or dens containing the young and are discouraged from returning. Predators were more likely to be mobbed as their proximity to (gull) nests increased.
However in humans, the phenomenon of "mobbing" refers more to a form of bullying that often takes place not against a "predator" human, but one who often poses a danger to an individual (sometimes a group), usually because of some superior attributes. The person who initiates mobbing behavior against the individual often uses deception and other tactics to convince others in the group to join in the bullying behavior and drive the unwanted person away.
I realized that from my own experience, this second form of "mobbing" is what was used against me, and successfully, to disarm me and dispossess me. From a Wikipedia article on mobbing: "Leymann noted that one of the possible side-effects of mobbing is post-traumatic stress disorder and (it) is frequently misdiagnosed. After making this discovery he successfully treated thousands of victims at his clinic in Sweden." Another note from the same article makes it (fairly) clear how this type of behavior can also function in the (Family) Court system and similar environments which are supposed to offer havens of safety for victimized people, but due to their fragmented, isolated (from each other) natures, often function to increase levels of victimization: "mobbing is typically found in work environments that have poorly organised production and/or working methods and incapable or inattentive management and that mobbing victims are usually "exceptional individuals who demonstrated intelligence, competence, creativity, integrity, accomplishment and dedication"." Therefore, the victim will approach systems with the belief that they are set up and operational to fulfill their stated functions; but often the victim will not approach "helping" entities until fairly late in the cycle; by that time, rumors may have been spread, reports made and the victim has been smeared before entering the system, other psychological biases operate to reinforce the original (but mistaken) beliefs held by others, who have been "set up" and become part of the mobbing phenomenon.
I just wanted to make sure I remember some of this as it seems the animal model has useful applications for a more aware and knowledgeable expert base. The more I research, the more I learn that too many "experts" hold false beliefs about victims that amount to stereotyping from exception and normal reactions to "unbelievable reports" rather than holding an open, aware and inquisitive mind determined to make decisions based in truth and fact. I've located some useful reports that, communicated to the right agencies and people within, "should" make some difference, in a positive sense. Whether that will actually be the case ... well, in some respects it's a good thing that humans aren't often amenable to instantaneous changes of mind, but it sure would be helpful if more of us were trained and educated to use our minds to tackle problems and questions using logic, and if more "experts" and "authorities" were willing to admit that they have been mistaken, or maybe better and saving of face, previously "inadequately informed".
http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Gulls_Are_Attracted.html"When a weasel, fox, or other predator enters a breeding colony of gulls, numerous birds gather in the air above the intruder, making it very conspicuous. Gulls come from a considerable distance and circle or hover over the predator for quite a while, sometimes even landing in its vicinity before returning to their territories. With the exception of those whose nests are immediately threatened, the gulls show little inclination to attack. Instead they appear nervous and ready to flee.Experiments using models of predators show that breeding Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls are more attracted to models that have a dead gull placed close to them than they are to the models alone. Furthermore, once gulls have seen a predator model with a dead gull, they are more attracted to it if experimenters place it within the colony again on the same day, even without the dead gull. Indeed, there is some evidence that the heightened reaction to the predator lasts at least a day after it is seen with the dead bird. This heightened reaction is specific to the predator model seen with the corpse -- there is no increased reaction to a model of a different predator subsequently presented in the same place. After seeing a predator model with a dead gull, the live gulls alight farther from the model on subsequent encounters. They remain attracted, but are more cautious.These results indicate that the attraction of the gulls to their enemies is a method of learning about them. Apparently they can generalize -- they draw conclusions about the predator after another gull has had a lethal encounter with it. This is a beneficial reaction, since mammalian predators such as weasels and foxes may engage in "surplus killing -- dispatching more victims than they can consume. Also these hunters can specialize for a period of time on one group of prey. An animal that has killed one gull may be more likely to kill others; individual foxes have been observed habitually killing gulls in breeding colonies. It requires little imagination, then, to see the potential adaptive advantage for gulls of investigating predators."
But I found it interesting, as I explored further, to discover that many animals, including gulls, will actually communicate amongst themselves and form mobs to drive a predator off. Mobbing is also used to distract predators who prey on young or on eggs. Mobbed predators fail to locate nests or dens containing the young and are discouraged from returning. Predators were more likely to be mobbed as their proximity to (gull) nests increased.
However in humans, the phenomenon of "mobbing" refers more to a form of bullying that often takes place not against a "predator" human, but one who often poses a danger to an individual (sometimes a group), usually because of some superior attributes. The person who initiates mobbing behavior against the individual often uses deception and other tactics to convince others in the group to join in the bullying behavior and drive the unwanted person away.
I realized that from my own experience, this second form of "mobbing" is what was used against me, and successfully, to disarm me and dispossess me. From a Wikipedia article on mobbing: "Leymann noted that one of the possible side-effects of mobbing is post-traumatic stress disorder and (it) is frequently misdiagnosed. After making this discovery he successfully treated thousands of victims at his clinic in Sweden." Another note from the same article makes it (fairly) clear how this type of behavior can also function in the (Family) Court system and similar environments which are supposed to offer havens of safety for victimized people, but due to their fragmented, isolated (from each other) natures, often function to increase levels of victimization: "mobbing is typically found in work environments that have poorly organised production and/or working methods and incapable or inattentive management and that mobbing victims are usually "exceptional individuals who demonstrated intelligence, competence, creativity, integrity, accomplishment and dedication"." Therefore, the victim will approach systems with the belief that they are set up and operational to fulfill their stated functions; but often the victim will not approach "helping" entities until fairly late in the cycle; by that time, rumors may have been spread, reports made and the victim has been smeared before entering the system, other psychological biases operate to reinforce the original (but mistaken) beliefs held by others, who have been "set up" and become part of the mobbing phenomenon.
I just wanted to make sure I remember some of this as it seems the animal model has useful applications for a more aware and knowledgeable expert base. The more I research, the more I learn that too many "experts" hold false beliefs about victims that amount to stereotyping from exception and normal reactions to "unbelievable reports" rather than holding an open, aware and inquisitive mind determined to make decisions based in truth and fact. I've located some useful reports that, communicated to the right agencies and people within, "should" make some difference, in a positive sense. Whether that will actually be the case ... well, in some respects it's a good thing that humans aren't often amenable to instantaneous changes of mind, but it sure would be helpful if more of us were trained and educated to use our minds to tackle problems and questions using logic, and if more "experts" and "authorities" were willing to admit that they have been mistaken, or maybe better and saving of face, previously "inadequately informed".
http://www.stanford.edu/group/stanfordbirds/text/essays/Gulls_Are_Attracted.html"When a weasel, fox, or other predator enters a breeding colony of gulls, numerous birds gather in the air above the intruder, making it very conspicuous. Gulls come from a considerable distance and circle or hover over the predator for quite a while, sometimes even landing in its vicinity before returning to their territories. With the exception of those whose nests are immediately threatened, the gulls show little inclination to attack. Instead they appear nervous and ready to flee.Experiments using models of predators show that breeding Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls are more attracted to models that have a dead gull placed close to them than they are to the models alone. Furthermore, once gulls have seen a predator model with a dead gull, they are more attracted to it if experimenters place it within the colony again on the same day, even without the dead gull. Indeed, there is some evidence that the heightened reaction to the predator lasts at least a day after it is seen with the dead bird. This heightened reaction is specific to the predator model seen with the corpse -- there is no increased reaction to a model of a different predator subsequently presented in the same place. After seeing a predator model with a dead gull, the live gulls alight farther from the model on subsequent encounters. They remain attracted, but are more cautious.These results indicate that the attraction of the gulls to their enemies is a method of learning about them. Apparently they can generalize -- they draw conclusions about the predator after another gull has had a lethal encounter with it. This is a beneficial reaction, since mammalian predators such as weasels and foxes may engage in "surplus killing -- dispatching more victims than they can consume. Also these hunters can specialize for a period of time on one group of prey. An animal that has killed one gull may be more likely to kill others; individual foxes have been observed habitually killing gulls in breeding colonies. It requires little imagination, then, to see the potential adaptive advantage for gulls of investigating predators."
Replies