Not With a Bang But a Whimper

Via Yglesias:

Boy I didn't need to watch that after a rough day.

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That's so sad. Man, I need sleep.

Honestly, it probably knows it's heading off to die. Animals do that all the time. They have this innate sense of when their time is just about up and frequently head out into the hinterlands to die in peace.

How did they miss the opportunity to blame that on humans? Penguins and roadrunners are two of the few birds I respect and don't hate. I have never seen a roadrunner walk straight off on a death march into the mountains. But they are hella-committed to not flying.

I've really got to ask . . . why do we assume that the penguin is using anything like reasoning in "deciding" to go to the interior if the continent? Aren't we projecting anthropomorphic thinking on the bird? Come now, it is just a bird. Who knows, its internal compass may have gone awry for some reason. To ascribe human thought processes to this animal is frivolous and non-productive.

By Ed Lorden (not verified) on 27 Feb 2009 #permalink