Today we had an invited speaker to the college
who spoke about abnormal behaviour in animals.
Videos were shown of small dogs chasing their tail until they became a
flying circle of black and white. A mouse
did repeat back summersaults again and again like an acrobat stuck in a
loop. A huge elephant, chained at the
leg, swung from side to side continuously.
All of them drew laughter from the audience of young students. Until the speaker pointed out that all of
these behaviours denoted stress in the animals.
These repetitive movements were symptoms of an animal trying to cope
with situations far from their normal environment. Perhaps you have seen it in the zoo where the
lion paces up and down the cage wall putting his feet in the exact paw prints
that he has been making for months, sometimes years. It is distressing to watch because once you
know what to look for, you can see it is not normal. The tragic thing is that after a period of
around twelve weeks of such activity the animal’s brain becomes hard wired and
it is impossible to change the endless routine.
The comfort such activities bring are an end in themselves and no matter
how exciting the environment or stimulating only a slight reduction in activity
levels in the repetitive activity can be ever achieved. Abnormal
repetitive behaviour is usual exhibited by normal animals in un-natural
situations. If you want to see distressing
examples of this behaviour have a look at this link.
It struck me that we too carry out abnormal
repetitive behaviour when stressed and I began looking for signs of it in
myself and others. Overeating, endless
shopping, routines at work, gossiping, mobile phones, games, gambling,
drinking, smoking, cleaning, reading rubbish and watching rubbish on TV. Could these be the equivalent of rocking to
and fro getting nowhere but longing for actual life to begin? What a depressing turn of thought. Mind you I was happy to see how much the
students loved the talk and the speaker and how they were all triggered to find
ways of making life more enjoyable for the animals in their care. It reminded me what a lovely bunch of
students they are and what an odd creature I am!
