• Whats_your_reasoning@lemmy.world
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    11 hours ago

    Yes and no. A lot of the sounds are mating calls, but there’s so much more being communicated.

    Some sounds are warnings, like when squirrels see a cat and start to chirp. If you watch them, you’ll see them run up a tree and pause upside down on the trunk, chirping an alert to others. Other squirrels in the area will repeat the behavior and amplify the “message” until the threat (the neighborhood cat) goes away.

    Some sounds are intended to trick others. Blue jays mimic the sounds made by birds of prey in order to scare other birds away from their feeding grounds. It works really well - I’ve seen a jay clear a whole flock of starlings from my yard before. He then swooped down and plucked a bunch of worms and bugs from the soil.

    There’s probably more, but these are just examples I’ve observed while hanging out on my porch.

    • Swedneck@discuss.tchncs.de
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      9 hours ago

      honestly i’d expect most sounds to not be mating sounds unless it’s specifically a time of year where most of the animals there are in mating season

      i think we humans tend to forget that it’s not very normal to just always be looking to bang, for most animals (and plants even) it’s done very enthusiastically at specific times.

  • Verito@lemm.ee
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    16 hours ago

    Birds are generally saying one of two things: “Fuck you,” or “Fuck me.”

  • Deme@sopuli.xyz
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    12 hours ago

    If you really boil it down, all that any species ever does is in some way an attempt to propagate its genes. We aren’t any different either. The artistic spark that got Davinci to paint the Mona Lisa was there due to such behaviour being an evolutionarily beneficial trait (being good at art increases the social standing of a person and thus increases their chances of reproduction). I don’t want to sound cynical about this because I’m not. That’s just life. It really doesn’t matter. The painting is still beautiful.

    • dingus@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      That’s where I’ve always been confused. Every living being wants to propogate their species through innate biological urges and behaviors, whether they realize it or not. Obviously humans recognize these behaviors and are able to choose whether or not to actually have children or to simply act on these urges without procreating (condoms, birth control, etc.). But the innate biological inclinations are still there.

      It’s odd for me because I’ve never had these urges or inclinations for sex. Sometimes it makes me feel like I’m not human or something. Because every living being seems to experience this. Even when I discovered the concept of asexuality, I found that a very significant number of these individuals either oddly still had a sex drive or they were sexually traumatized in some way which blocked it. I have never had a sex drive and was never sexually traumatized. I was not a “late bloomer”, as I’m in my 30s with the same lack of normal human feelings.

      • Deme@sopuli.xyz
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        3 hours ago

        It’s not limited to direct reproduction of one’s own genes. Keep in mind that we live in a society. Contributing to that society means helping others of our species (with almost the same genes) pass their genes on. Just being kind to others is already great. You’re valid.

      • Deme@sopuli.xyz
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        3 hours ago

        Perhaps not with conscious intent. I suppose even staying alive and contributing to a society still means that you help your relatives pass their genes on. Even gay penguins do this when they adopt an orphaned egg.

    • MonkderVierte@lemmy.ml
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      10 hours ago

      No, i don’t think there was ever a time where artists had a high social standing because of the art. Not even the greek philosophers we admire today.

      • Deme@sopuli.xyz
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        3 hours ago

        Fair point, but despite how we as a society treat artists, I still think that the underlying impulse to do art is an attempt to capture the interest and appreciation of others, building social bonds. Rarely is art made without a tought of presenting it to others. This is how art seems to happen with every other species on earth that does it.

  • OutlierBlue
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    23 hours ago

    the sound of millions of animals desperately trying to get laid

    And yet when I do it, I’m a pervert and asked to leave the park.