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I'd like to posit a progression of animal awareness. (In the full knowledge that there is no "tree" or "hierarchy" of evolution; the progression is merely a convenient way of presenting some data.)
1. Single-celled animals, such as amoebae and /Paramecium/. Many of these display simple taxic responses: they move towards light, away from heat, and towards or away from certain chemicals - they pursue concentration gradients. In other words, a single cell can display what could be called "voluntary" movement; it does not follow programmed paths but responds to its environment. You can watch a Paramecium in a microscope, swimming through a world of bits of plant and mineral matter in water. If they bumble into something, they recoil, and set off in another direction. If they catch a scent of something that might be food, they change direction and set off in pursuit of it. It's much like watching a much bigger animal, like a mouse, explore an unfamiliar environment. Surprisingly like.
Similar behaviours can be observed in all sorts of small animals, like collembolans and nematodes.
Small animals - even single-celled ones - interact with their environment, responding to stimuli in ways that are more than a simple, determinate pattern. They are not like a clockwork mouse or toy that always follows the same path.
( Read more... )
1. Single-celled animals, such as amoebae and /Paramecium/. Many of these display simple taxic responses: they move towards light, away from heat, and towards or away from certain chemicals - they pursue concentration gradients. In other words, a single cell can display what could be called "voluntary" movement; it does not follow programmed paths but responds to its environment. You can watch a Paramecium in a microscope, swimming through a world of bits of plant and mineral matter in water. If they bumble into something, they recoil, and set off in another direction. If they catch a scent of something that might be food, they change direction and set off in pursuit of it. It's much like watching a much bigger animal, like a mouse, explore an unfamiliar environment. Surprisingly like.
Similar behaviours can be observed in all sorts of small animals, like collembolans and nematodes.
Small animals - even single-celled ones - interact with their environment, responding to stimuli in ways that are more than a simple, determinate pattern. They are not like a clockwork mouse or toy that always follows the same path.
( Read more... )
