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Not So Much Dog Eat Dog
There's a lot of toughness floating around these days. No one is supposed to complain about anything (which doesn't really interrupt laments, it just makes the ranters feel guilty and compromised). If mothers stay at home and feel bored, they're accused of being lazy and spoiled, of defeating the feminist cause. If they have trouble handling work and motherhood they're told that they should be glad they have jobs and to stop being such idiots. If they get stretch marks, it's their fault for not exercising enough, or exercising too much, or failing to use the correct moisturizer. Everything is so fraught that introducing a simple petulant protest about anything is enough to bring down scads of people railing at one for having bad politics and questionable morals.
So it was with some relief that yesterday afternoon I got to observe a truly sympathetic society up at the Bronx Zoo where the African Wild Dogs (Lycaon pictus to you species name lovers) were cavorting.
They're wonderful to watch, even if you're not dog-obsessed and have a truly complicated but startlingly un-harsh style of pack behavior. If one gets sick, the other dogs feed it and take care of it until it either recovers or dies. When a litter of pups is born, the rest of the pack chips in with babysitting and general care (since litters can contain up to 21 pups there is certainly something practical going on). No one gets to hog food. Everyone eats at once without fighting. It all seems terribly reasonable and natural. I'm not wild about the idea of having to bite my dinner to death after chasing it for a few hours but it is nice in this moment where we are constantly being yapped at about how the individual should take care of himself and how we are responsible for our destinies, blah, blah... that organic communities actually work out just fine.
But there is a shadow over all things, and these little carnivorous utopian societies are now completely endangered.
Still, if you can take a look at them, it's quite a treat. Word to the wise: Wild African Dogs are crepuscular- most active at dawn and dusk- so for maximum frolicking, visit in the late afternoon. Until then, watch the Bronx Zoo video.
posted by Elise at 10:11 AM
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