You do not believe that cruelty is an innately human trait, requiring a much more developed brain that animals do not have?
While I cannot claim to be even close to an expert on animal behavior, I think I can say with confidence that most of their decision process is dictated by instinct. A large part of the rest would probably be simple curiosity or playfulness.
Every example mentioned so far can be explained in terms of the above.
Quote:
|
Even a well fed cat might find pleasure in hunting and killing a mouse
|
Cats are predatorial animals by nature, and despite being domestic, that drive is still there. They are wired to hunt prey.
Quote:
|
Bears catch salmon traveling upstream and do not always stop catching them even after the point when they cannot eat anything anymore.
|
Perhaps this would be a gorging instinct of some sort, to prevent running out of food, especially close to Winter. Most of any wild animal's day involves getting food and eating it.
Quote:
|
A fox will kill all the hens in a stable, much more than he possibly could eat and certainly not because it is defending itself.
|
Could be the same as the bear example. The hunting instinct too, for sure.
Quote:
|
They catches more insects than it can eat right, pack them up and store them, but forget about these reserves because new food comes into the net.
|
Definitely that gorging instict again.
Quote:
|
watch an otter chase fish for the hell of it until time to eat, at which point he quickly thrusts forward and grabs it.
|
AFAIK, otters are very playful animals, and its not far-fetched to me that in this situation it would be in "play mode".
Quote:
|
killer whales toss seals for no reason.
|
I have no clue about this one, but I'm sure someone else can think of an explanation. Still it doesn't sound like "cruelty" to me.
I think you are misunderstanding what I mean by "cruelty"... Getting pleasure from an action because they are physically wired that way (ie: instinct to hunt prey rewards animals for hunting prey) is not cruelty. Cruelty is knowing that a living creature is suffering, and getting pleasure from that.
IMHO, knowing that the prey is suffering, by itself, is already quite a feat which most animals might not be capable of, as it requires thinking from the prey's point of view.