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Post by Tamrin on Feb 10, 2013 17:36:14 GMT 10
Instinct as an explanation for animal behaviour is barely 100 years old. As often happens with new concepts, enthusiasts came to see it everywhere. With the notable exception of Skippy, kangaroos and other marsupials are generally considered among mammals to be relatively dumb, i.e. poor learners, relying heavily on instincts. However, a new study shows that, counter-intuitively, while they cross suburban streets with sometimes misplaced confidence, they have learnt to mostly avoid busy, highways with fast moving traffic, a behaviour that could only have developed in the few decades since such highways existed (there were once many more casualties than there are today). Clearly, from the pace this behaviour developed, it is not due to genetically evolved instincts but to memetically evolved learning.
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