animals and motivation

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how different is an animals motivation in captivity to their motivation in the wild (lets say lions).

-- lorraine howe (lorraine.booth@ic24.net), May 07, 2002

Answers

Hi Lorraine, their motivation can be very different. Sorry, I don't know lions. Let's consider fish, specifically trout. This is animal capable of very aggresive behavior. In the wild confrontation between trout seldom comes to death; confrontation is more of a display thing and move on. However, when trout are raised in hatchery conditions they seem to become extreamly aggressive, and what's worst they don't seem to learn approprate behavior for survival in the wild. So the hypothetical scene is, when you raise a trout in a hatchery, when released into the wild it confronts a native raised fish and kills it, and in turn - ignorant of the ways of nature - it in turn becomes eagle food. So, even with an animal with a brain the size of a fish, motivation in captivity is different. Hope this helps. Best, David

-- david clark (doclark@yorku.ca), May 09, 2002.

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