6 - Deepening the Natural Historical Account

Summary

At the most basic level of natural history, some creatures simply do not get on well living solitarily, and do much better when they are part of a larger group of some sort. There are species of mammal for which it is natural and normal to live alone (except for breeding and rearing purposes): for example snow leopards, and polar bears, and platypuses, and moose. But such species as lions, and sheep, and gorillas, and sparrows, and dolphins are plainly social species. Elephants and chimps are well known for the clear distress that they show at the loss of a member of their group. Every dog owner knows how a pet dog will go on looking for another pet dog, or for a member of its human family, after they have died. Anyone who wants to keep rabbits is advised by all the experts to make sure that it is indeed rabbits, plural, and not just a single rabbit. Even cats, though they often seem to project a sleek air of solitary superiority, are in fact nearly always busy seeking out the company both of humans (especially ones with food and warmth to share) and of other cats (especially ones that they can either fight or fornicate with). For all these kinds of animals, it is obviously and demonstrably true that living together is better than living in isolation. And this seems to be such a general, physiology-level fact that it is almost superfluous to ask why they do better in company: they just do, in a whole range of very basic ways.