Animal logic - January 4, 2012

It was pleasant enough, a little warmer this morning. It got back above freezing late afternoon. I walked to work along Central Avenue, which his loud and not especially pleasant, but has the advantage in winter of being more regularly clceared of snow and ice. A lot of residential sidewalks on the side-streets way I like to go, are hazardous. Anya pulls hard when she wants to go somewhere, and I've almoat lost my balance a few times on icy streets and sidwalks trying to keep her under control. Like the dog cares about any of this. Our animals, pet or livestock, respond to weather so as to maximize their comfort and increase the likelihood of their survival. That's it. If they're sociall animals and are bonded with another animal, they may try and help him or her. But climate change? It gets hotter, you deal. Or you die, depending on how well youu deal. Weather is what there is, and you deal with it in the here and now. Is thisrally anadvatage for us humans who see cycles and patterns and try and planfor them? I some sense, of course, it means we can plan and strategize on a much longer time frame than any other animal. But it also means we can paralyze ourselves with the horrible scenarios we can imagine. ----- People living in the cold north often used to sleep above their livesock. It was more fragrant, but it used the free heat the cows and horses and sheep and goats gave off. The livestock were happy of a warm shelter. People talk about dogs evolving as companioins and guards, and about humans domesticating cattle as an easier way of getting protein than hunting. But what abut winter? Is it possible we domesticated aimals to keep us warm? Our cat thinks so. She also doesn't care, because she's asleep on my wife's foot.