>Reading that, I ask myself where the line is drawn between the territory
>of memes and the territory of instinct. Is a lion's urge to hunt a meme
>instilled by it's pack from when it was young, or is it just instinct?
>Any help?
There's no doubt that some animal behavior is *taught* rather than inbred;
cats train their young, to a certain extent. And, I remember somewhere an
experiment done with baby gorillas and harmless snakes -- the baby gorilla
that was raised seperate from the parent was not scared of snakes, but the
one who was raised with the parent was taught to fear them by watching his
mother's reaction.
It's been many years since I read this, though... perhaps a biologist among
us can shed better light.
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John Williams ICQ Address: 1213689 prefect@tricon.net
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"See my loafers? Former gophers!"
Various Artists: Raising the Tide of Mediocrity for Two Years
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