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Are animal behaviors different from a person's behavior?
Question Date: 2006-09-26
Answer 1:

Some animal behaviors are very similar to human behaviors, particularly those animals most similar to us evolutionarily, like mammals (particularly primates). In fact, researchers study animal behavior to get insights into how to treat specific behavioral disorders in humans.

As you are probably aware of, animals like dogs or monkeys display behaviors such as aggression, love and caring for their young, or cooperation and teamwork, all common human behaviors.

Oftentimes if animals are under stress they display abnormal behaviors that are different than any human behavior. But then again, humans under stress display odd behaviors too.

More primitive animals, like insects or sponges, obviously do not display human behaviors. For example, during mating the praying mantis female may eat the male if she is hungry. Female black widows will do this as well. Thankfully, this behavior is not seen in humans.



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