[cfgeeks] Weasels kill for pleasure?

[Karen Hill]

Thanks, Syberghost...I knew I could count on you.  :)

Fascinating stuff.  The first article I would lean toward considering as a variation of human behavior since we're only a gene apart from chimps.  The second article leads to the premise that the killing is not necessarily for pleasure but for survival of the individual's gene pool.  Interesting statement:
To die over something so inconsequential as a casual comment or a dispute about some distant event seems the height of irony and caprice. But in a sense, disputes of that sort are not trivial, for they reflect the evolutionary past, when personal altercations were the stuff upon which prestige and social success -- leading ultimately to biological success -- were based.
I guess what we truly need to do is to define exactly what "killing for pleasure" means.  Is it considered pleasure when there's a grin on your face?  j/k  Perhaps most killing is in some way biological ...good food for deeper consideration.  Ewww...did we just enter the nurture/nature argument now???  LOL 

----- Original Message ----
From: syberghost <syberghost at gmail.com>
To: Central Florida Geeks <cfgeeks at mail.cfgeeks.org>
Sent: Thursday, February 8, 2007 12:43:41 PM
Subject: Re: [cfgeeks] Weasels kill for pleasure?


On 2/8/07, Karen Hill <karendhill at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Okay, we're having a serious debate here in our IT department.  Do weasels
> (or any other animal) kill for pleasure?
>
> Please provide links...so far, all I can find are blog postings but nothing
> substantial.

http://www.tufts.edu/as/wright_center/cosmic_evolution/docs/text/text_cult_2.html

"Field studies in Tanzania illustrate how some chimps occasionally
murder other chimps for no apparent survival-related reason.
Premeditated, gangland-style attacks were directed by a large group of
male chimps on a smaller group of males and females that had
previously broken away from the larger group. Over the course of five
years, each member of the splinter group was systematically and
brutally beaten. All died. Only young males initiated the attacks,
which occurred only when the victims were isolated from the others.
Hands, feet, and teeth were often used by the attackers, though
sometimes field-workers noticed stones being deliberately thrown."

http://www.physics.ohio-state.edu/~wilkins/writing/Assign/so/male-violence.html

"Until a decade or two ago, it appeared that other animals --
including monkeys -- did not kill members of their own species,
whereas humans did. But as field studies in animal behavior have
become more thorough, the myth of the peaceful primate -- or
non-murderous animal generally -- has largely been dispelled.
Orangutans rape, for instance, and chimpanzees murder. Wolves also
kill others of their own kind, as do lions, elk, and bison. In fact,
nearly every animal species that has been carefully studied sooner or
later reveals its penchant for lethal violence."
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