Posted by Cindy W on July 14, 2000, at 8:59:54
In reply to learned behavior, posted by paul on July 13, 2000, at 23:35:19
> saw the most amazing thing the other day. my buggy is in the shop (AAAAARRRRGGGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! since i live in the country and am SCREWED w/o it) so my very gracious neighbor has lent me her full-sized van. believe me i appreciate it but I WANT MY BUGGY BACK!!! ok, back to the story. so i'm drivin down our sorry-assed excuse of a road and i see a turtle smack in the middle of said raod. i have a nickname where i live. they call me "turtle boy" because NO MATTER the circumstances, i ALWAYS stop and make sure the turtles get across the road. thus the name. so i stop the van and to my EXTREME surprise, said turtle looks me straight in the eye, and in as much as a turtle CAN "haul ass", he/she does so back to the side of the road and out of harm's way. i can't remember EVER seeing a better example of learned behavior in ANY species. i was dumbfounded with the purposefulness with which the t. got out of the road. not only did the t. know TO get out of the road, the t. knew PRECISELY which direction to take to achieve the desired goal. amazing. hopefully i'll be as mentally nimble when the next van comes down MY road.
> p(c(l))Paul, glad you stop for turtles! Leaving work the other day, I saw a tiny lizard moving very slowly across the asphalt (in a trafficky spot). I chased him, then picked him up and put him in the bushes away from the road. My friends teased me. But hey, I hope somebody moves ME off the road before a car comes! Hope you get your buggy back soon.
poster:Cindy W
thread:40381
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20000708/msgs/40417.html