Beyond survival

In my previous post on nature and free will, it was commented that much of the "cruelty" we witness in nature is necessary to the animal's survival.  This is an excellent point, and in many cases is certainly true!  Recently, however, I have been watching a plethora of nature documentaries by the BBC (Planet Earth, Life, Frozen Planet), and have been fascinated to learn that often this type of behavior goes beyond survival!  Let me give a couple of examples, and then draw an important conclusion from this:

1) Gorillas in the Congo jungle live in tribal colonies.  Each colony stakes a claim to a certain territory in the jungle, and the territory of a rival clan must be taken by force.  There are several interesting aspects to this behavior.  First of all, gorillas go out of their way to overtake a rival's camp even when they already have enough territory of their own.  In other words, it's not that they necessarily NEED this land, they just want MORE land at the expense of their peers.  Secondly, when a rival's camp is successfully taken over, they do not stop at merely chasing off or killing the rival gorillas.  They actually EAT their captives raw, often while they are still alive. 

2) Many animals, such as bears and seals, are not satisfied with simply winning the affections of a single female.  The alpha males are prone to claiming the entire harem of females entirely to themselves, even at the expense of any other male having any other mate.  Clearly, this goes far beyond mere survival, as a single female would certainly suffice if one's goal was mere survival and procreation.

3) There are baboons that live in a very harsh arctic mountain environment.  There are precious hot springs in these mountains that provide much needed warmth.  While these springs are large enough to fit the entire clan of baboons, only the alpha male and his wives and children are allowed in the spring.  Other baboons are violently beat out of the spring, even though they could easily fit.

Here are the conclusions I draw from this:

1) Most male animals do not desire to merely survive, they desire to utterly dominate.   They desire as much power and authority as possible, as many female mates as possible, and as much offspring as possible.  In many cases, this could even mean the entire local population of females, even if this means that no other male gets a chance.  In short, alpha males want to be gluttons when it comes to their authority and their genes.

2) The desire to have your genes dominate is only half the story.  Animals also want their weaker rivals to suffer and die.  Let me explain: it is not enough for an alpha male to simply win as much land and females as possible.  They actually want to remove opportunities for their weaker peers to survive and reproduce.  Going back to the hot spring example: the alpha male has already won the respect of his peers and the affections of all of the females, none of this would be threatened by allowing the beta males to join him in the hot spring.  However, he actively desires for the beta males to sit out in the cold and suffer, possibly even to their deaths.  He would also go to almost any length to ensure that they will not reproduce.

This sounds incredibly cruel, but it also seems to be the simple truth.  In short, the strong and fit in the animal kingdom instinctively desire for their genes to dominate and for the genes of the weak to perish.  In my next post, I will try to explain why this is, and to what extent this behavior should be tolerated in humans.