Hunting - 42
KimLuster on Aug. 9, 2018
Thus ends ‘Hunting’, my first little short! But you can bet this moment will produce ramifications down the road, some expected, some (hopefully) not so much!!
Last Panel: does that name ring a bell for anyone?
Next page will be a big Thank You for the Nominations I got for the DD 2018 Awards :D Then my next short story will start!
For my next short, we're gonna return to civilization (where maybe even more drama awaits!).
I was a little stunned that so many liked the one-sided undercut look for Kimber Lee's hair. She started to grow it back already here, but now, with everyone's comments, I'm strongly considering working such a style in. Let me know in your comments if you'd like that, and let me know if you would not like it. I'll consider that a sorta improvised poll as to which direction I go!
Finally, God I hope RL has finally settled back down! I'm getting too old to be working that much lol!
Life and Good Dreams!
El Cid at 8:39AM, Aug. 9, 2018
In a way it's hard to blame the wolves. In human years, they're basically children with adult bodies and fangs and claws. They couldn't possibly understand the world at a highly sophisticated level, for all the good and the bad that entails. What could we expect but for them to lash out!
KimLuster at 8:14AM, Aug. 9, 2018
Very, very true! Hitler was quite the sentient being!! Can true evil even exist without sentience?!
usedbooks at 7:40AM, Aug. 9, 2018
Nice. Really, names have nothing to do with anything. Not knowing someone's name might help you distance yourself and not care, but it doesn't mean they have no identity.
KimLuster at 11:10AM, Aug. 9, 2018
And during my last post I reminded myself you're much more experienced with actually dealing with animals than I am, so if you ever tell me I'm outright wrong about them, I'll listen! ;)
usedbooks at 10:30AM, Aug. 9, 2018
I have been on both the underestimating and overestimating sides just dealing with my pets. (I wanted to get a degree in animal behavior, but I couldn't find it offered in-state. Definitely a favorite area of study for me. I put a ton of animals in Used Books when I can get away with it and take personal pride in keeping their behavior "real.")
KimLuster at 9:29AM, Aug. 9, 2018
I agree to an level - many animals exhibit a sort of proto-sentience. But we humans can't help but project the way we define all this onto animals (it's impossible to ever know truly what another entity, human or animal, experiences). All we have to go by are external signs suggesting a deeper awareness. A human baby recognizes its mother long before it makes the 'leap' of knowing its mother is a separate, distinct being... When do we rise from instinctual behavior to this sort of awareness? When do some animals (I know many do, as per your examples...)? Anyway, it's a fascinating topic!
usedbooks at 8:37AM, Aug. 9, 2018
On the other hand, we found a dead snake at work, which I added to our educational collection. My coworker wanted to name it, which seems to me both ridiculous and morbid.
usedbooks at 8:34AM, Aug. 9, 2018
Many animals can recognize other individuals and have a sense of self even without language. Honestly, I think people are equally guilty of underestimating various species' emotional and social intelligence as they are of overestimating/anthropomorphizing. A frog's thought processes may be no deeper than small+moving=food, but lab rats recognize family members and show empathy.
KimLuster at 8:12AM, Aug. 9, 2018
Hrrmmm... My opinion (by no means proven) is that Language and Sentience are closely related. Language is ultimately the ability to attache abstract symbols to physicals phenomenon - and if a creature can't do that, I hesitate to call it sentient! So, naming yourself is a part of being self-aware... But yeah, we do often attach waaaay too importance to the name of things, once we've named them ("A rose by any other name would smell as sweet")
bravo1102 at 6:03AM, Aug. 9, 2018
Ahroul is Algerian 😉 I love how the colonel is all bundled up and she's there in a tank top and shorts. Parka, extreme cold weather, with the faux bear fur liner. I still have mine but it was camouflage since I didn't expect to be deployed in the snow, even if I spent two weeks in the foothills of the Appalachians-- in the snow.
KimLuster at 8:07AM, Aug. 9, 2018
Yeah, those Parka things can be very warm - I've actually got hot in them if I exerted myself too much in the cold! Ah, Belle and her Sister - shall we see them again? ;) So, the hair? Yay or Nay?
bravo1102 at 6:07AM, Aug. 9, 2018
And Belle's Air Force pilot sister will be so happy the munitions singed Kimber Lee's hair. Something about a promise to her sister Belle not the hurt a hair on Kimmie's head.