Saturday Sprog Blogging: fish behavior.

[Pardon the delay!]

Watching the fish tank in the pediatrician's waiting room:

Younger offspring: Those fish are playing tag!

Dr. Free-Ride: It kind of looks like tag, doesn't it?

Younger offspring: Except since they don't have hands to touch each other, I think they're using their mouths.

Dr. Free-Ride: See, that's why I think that they might be having a little fight about territory rather than playing tag.

Younger offspring: But they all share the territory of the fish tank, so I think they're playing.

Elder offspring: A few of them really like to hide in the plants.

Dr. Free-Ride: I noticed that. There's a stripey one that only comes out every so often.

Elder offspring: It's good that the tank has plants. I think all fish need places to hide, even in the ocean.

Dr. Free-Ride: Absolutely. Hiding is an attractive alternative to just outswimming predators.

Elder offspring: Even if there aren't any predators, I think places to hide are good for when a fish wants some privacy.

Dr. Free-Ride: Hmm. Do you think a fish has the kind of mind that can "want privacy"?

Elder offspring: Why not?

Dr. Free-Ride: Maybe it does -- I've never been a fish -- but I wonder how much fish behavior that we see as "playing" or "being shy" is actually just instinctive.

Younger offspring: I think the fish really play.

Elder offspring: I think the fish really want to be alone sometimes.

Dr. Free-Ride: Yeah, I understand the appeal of that. We're humans, and we know firsthand that lots of the things we do have complex thoughts behind them. But can we be sure that's true of these fish?

Younger offspring: It looks like they might be playing.

Elder offspring: I think every animal must want to be left alone some of the time.

Dr. Free-Ride: That's because you share space with your younger sibling. Maybe what's happening is we're seeing what the fish are actually doing -- swimming after each other, swimming under the plants -- and then interpreting it in terms of the kinds of activities and behaviors we understand as humans. We're anthropomorphizing the fish.

Younger offspring: Huh?

Dr. Free-Ride: That means we're trying to explain their behaviors by assuming they're pretty much like humans.

Elder offspring: Just because they have fish brains instead of human brains doesn't mean they couldn't have thoughts and feelings.

Dr. Free-Ride: I know that. The only way to be sure would be to be a fish.

Younger offspring: I like swimming, but I like getting out of the water, too.