The complete unawareness of the local wildlife of what’s happening in our world acts almost like a reassurance for me. It can serve as a reality check as to what’s actually important.
I was thinking about this recently when watching a Tawny Eagle fly past. It had swooped low to investigate something, then when it realised there was no food to be had it flew off to a land in a dead tree nearby. And it struck me that its curiosity was solely related to the here and now. What is on the ground there? Is it food? If so, what effort do I have to go to to obtain it? Nothing more. It probably doesn’t posses the ability to reason much more than that anyway.
Granted, the eagle also wouldn’t have been thinking in English, but its motivation – along with the motivation of pretty much every animal living at Londolozi – is pretty much confined to survival. Energy flow. Risk vs. reward. Stimulus – response. The Tawny Eagle is not afforded the luxury of an innate curiosity to explore beyond the next horizon. I doubt it revels in its ability to fly. The eagle is all about the day-to-day business or survival and – if it’s lucky – reproduction as well, which for most creatures is really the end-goal of survival anyway.
Wildebeest tend not to think of the future.
We could go really deep into this and talk about cognitive ability and Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and why it was probably because we evolved to satisfy our own needs with greater efficiency that we earned/developed/evolved the cognitive ability to want to explore, to be curious about what else was out there beyond the next valley, but let’s simply confine it to the Tawny Eagle’s simplicity of existence for now.
White rhinos also don’t have too much decision making to do…
It’s Christmas Day tomorrow, and that Tawny has no clue. Stock market fluctuations don’t trouble it, rising fuel prices aren’t a concern and whether we watch it through binoculars or not doesn’t factor into its decision making process. There’s something enviable in just how basic its life is.
Sure, each day carries with it some big risks – much like life in the bush for most of its inhabitants – but the lack of clutter in the Tawny eagle’s life is, I think, the take-home message. Not material clutter, but more the existential concerns of the mind. Most of what we worry about never comes to pass, and the whole ability to worry is I suppose a uniquely human trait. Wild animals on the other hand deal with the here and now. Granted, many of them have brains the size of peas, so it’s all they can do, but still…
When I started writing this post I thought I’d get to more of a point, but now that I’m concluding I’m finding it harder to come by. “Try be more like a Tawny eagle” doesn’t exactly grip you. Hallmark certainly won’t be on the phone in hurry. And upon consideration, I realise it’s only really the lack of worry of the Tawny that I find appealing.
The curiosity, the ability to dream, to imagine, and all the things that ultimately permit worry to exist in the first place, the things that make us human… I wouldn’t trade those for anything.
As the entire world knows, the US is in the middle of divisions on all fronts. We are bombarded every day by examples of hate, mass shootings and political upheaval. It is exhausting and for me beginning my mornings with wonderful photos of the animals at Londolozi going about their lives as natures ordered, good,bad or sad, is a boost to my morale. The stories you all recount provide a few moments of hope and above all calm in what at the moment is a worrying home. Please keep on cheering us up. Thank you! Victoria
Hi James
Let’s keep it simple….Great piece, brought peace to my own thoughts. I fully agree and would further add that the universe neither has compassion nor compromise, it neither thinks nor acts, it simply is and is never failing in its headlong pursuit of perfecting all parts on all parts. Procreation and evolving to stay ahead is the driving force in every living thing. I however, love the simplicity of sitting back, feet up and downing a cold beer on a hot summer day! Cheers
Well said, James. Best wishes to you all for a very happy Christmas and New Year.
James, I loved the picture of the Tawny Eagle – and the picture of the Rhino🤗
Very interesting reading today, I enjoyed it. Thanks
I believe elephants think a lot more than people give them credit for. Just sayin’.
I agree, Doug. They even have funerals. (See mu comment below.)
Beautifully written James. The life of a tawny eagle is relatively simple as you state: find food and perhaps mate. For human beings these needs are basically the same but there are so many more complex issues to deal with like finding a job, housing, dealing with transportation….. who has it best? I don’t know. I love leopards but the daily threat to their existence coupled with finding food every couple of days seems stressful. I think I’ll remain human.
James, Thanks for bringing our thoughts back to earth! You are right that the focus on most of the wildlife is on the here and now. It does make you think about how complicated our lives are – especially with technology going faster and faster every year!!!
Ah some simple photos, proving that you don’t need leopard 🐆 up trees 🌳. Merry Christmas 🎄 and thank you 😊 for your wonderful blogs. Sat at home in the UK with bronchitis on Christmas Day reading them makes me wish I was miles away.
A nice thought provoking blog James. You are right on the worry thing – we tend to worry too much about things that never come to pass. We should all try and take a positive view in our lives, they are sometimes too short. On the wild animal subject I guess they are too busy trying not to become pray to worry about anything else. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I wish you a very Merry Christmas and a safe, happy and healthy 2020.
I have to disagree with you on this one, sir. While not tawny eagles, I have seen ravens play and take pure joy in flying. I have seen animals from wildlife to my dogs reason, feel guilt and sorrow, and act altruistically. They are sentient, emotional, intelligent and even spiritual. (Science backs me up on most of this. And many anecdotes.) I respect your view and experience, but I think you are underestimating nonhuman animals. Perhaps they are more “zen” than us – or maybe they just look that way to us – but but they know…oh, they know.