This Family . . .

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Here we have the modern spinster family. Clockwise: Boo; Spike; Blue; and Lucy & Henry wrestling. It's a busy, active, conversational family, with the usual jealousies and affections. Yesterday the New York Times had an editorial, My Little Chickadee:

A team of Dutch scientists, testing a European relative of the chickadee, has found that some birds are shy and others are bold, broad personality differences that have a genetic foundation. . .

We take the range of personalities among individuals in our species for granted, yet it seems surprising to think of similar diversity in other species. Many people find the implications of that genuinely shocking. If bird personalities have a strong genetic and evolutionary basis, there is good reason to suspect that human personalities do, too. . .

Humans do not like to think of themselves as animals. Nor do they like to think that their behavior may have genetic or evolutionary roots. But the richer perspective - morally and intellectually - lies in examining and coming to terms with the kinship of all life. There's a certain tragic isolation in believing that humans stand apart in every way from the creatures that surround them . . .

My great hope is that we are moving past this isolation; that as we learn more we will be better able to recognize how our relatives, near and far, are, and are not, like us; how we are all  part of this family that is part of this planet that is part of . . .

Well, I don't know what we are part of, that's the mystery, isn't it?

MetaFilter discusses animal consciousness; Tool Use in Corvids; Animal Cognition & Learning; Tool Use in Animals.

This week's Carnival of the Cats; Carnival of the Dogs; Friday Ark.

ADDED 13 March: Strangechord has kindly posted the NYT piece, which is now archived.