Instinct vs Intelligence

Photo source: Simone Brunozzi

Instinct vs. Intelligence
Intelligence and instinct are human characteristics also possessed to some degree by animals such as lions and gazelle. Intelligence is evidenced by the ability to gain knowledge and learn behavior. Humans possess the highest level of intelligence capabilities of all living creatures including lions and gazelle. Instincts are the inborn abilities of living creatures to recognize and react to stimuli in their environment. Unlike intelligence, it is very difficult to determine whether or not humans have more or less instincts than any particular animal because it is nearly impossible to compare them. These concepts become very interesting whenever we analyze a given animal that is the predator, and another animal that is one of its common preys. For example, animals such as lions utilize their intellectual capabilities when they act as predators in an effort to pursue gazelle, which are common prey for lions. The gazelle react to their role as prey by utilizing their instincts to flee the attacking lion and escape with their life. The behavioral characteristics of how animals relate to one another may give us insight into human behavior, as we distinguish their intellectual capabilities as predators, observe their instincts as prey, and compare their relative behaviors to the human experiences of intellect and the instinctive fight or flight response.

Lions are hunters who use their intellectual capabilities to stalk their prey, such as the gazelle, thereby putting themselves in positions to attack successfully. The thought of a lion generates a familiar image in our minds. It is the image of a large aggressive wild animal that roams around and kills other animals for food whenever it gets hungry. It is a symbol of awesome power that earns it the nickname of “King of the Jungle.” We don’t necessarily think of the lion as using its intelligence whenever it seeks food, but rather of the lion being an overwhelming beast that has no difficulty randomly selecting and dominating its prey. However, taking a closer look at this awesome creature reveals a more complex animal that uses intelligence to stalk its prey. The lion has learned that whenever it feels hungry, it should rely on its speed and quickness to hunt down their prey as well as their sense of smell, sight, and hearing. The lion first begins learning how to hunt by watching adult lions whenever it is just a cub, and thereby acquiring knowledge of hunting and developing predator behaviors. This is learned behavior that is reinforced as the lion grows and begins to hunt for food whenever it feels hungry. As a predator, it must rely on intelligence in order to learn hunting behaviors that overcome the instincts of its prey to recognize an attack and escape the lion.

The gazelle is a common prey of lions, and it has evolved great instincts which allow it to react to perceived danger such as alarming sounds and movements indicating potential life-threatening situations such as lion attacks. The gazelle instinctively reacts with its inborn capabilities of speed and agility in order to escape the attacker. They are very fast and are able to escape an attack. When faced with an unpredictable and threatening situation, the gazelle does not purposely seek to act as in a situation that requires intelligent thought in order to learn a behavior or gain knowledge, but relies on instincts instead. The prey does not have time to process information and make intellectual decisions. Instead, gazelle use their inborn instincts to escape their predators and live to see another day. The gazelle does not need to rely on its intelligence until it also reacts to the feeling of being hungry, by performing learned behaviors that allow it to seek and acquire its own food.

Much like the lion and the gazelle, the human possesses the characteristics of both intelligence thought, as well as inborn instincts, which serve as capabilities that can be used to meet the needs of their situation. Human beings rely upon their intelligence the majority of the time, as they plan their day and make decisions regarding meeting their physical needs. The need for food is a physical need that is met whenever humans use their skills and talents to earn money working at a job, and then taking some of that money and buying food. Humans rely on their instincts less often than animals. Instincts are also utilized to recognize dangerous situations, and humans react to dangerous situations with the initiation of an instinct known as the fight or flight response. The fight or flight response is a physiologic response of the human body that increases heart rate and blood pressure, as well as the acuity of the senses. This prepares the human to either run from the danger, or stay and fight against the source of the danger. Like the lion and the gazelle, there are times whenever it is appropriate to use intelligence in a given situation, and there are times whenever it is most appropriate to trust your inborn instincts in order to make the appropriate choice.

In conclusion, intelligence and instincts are human characteristics that are also observed in the animal kingdom. Intelligence represents the ability to gain knowledge and learn behavior, and is demonstrated by animals whenever they are the predator. Instincts are inborn responses that are displayed by animals whenever they become another animal’s prey. Both intelligence and instinct combine to give the animal the best chance to survive in their environment. Likewise, humans also display both intelligence and instinct characteristics. However, humans rely much more on intelligence and less on instincts as they live in a safer and more predictable environment.

Soil Erosion

Soil Erosion
Soil erosion issues are a global problem that rarely affect us directly, but often affect us indirectly (Butler). Soil erosion is a natural occurring process that in most cases is subtle and goes undetected, however, the daily activities of mankind, such as housing projects and other forms of building, expose the land to increases in the rate of erosion by an estimate of between 200 and 2,000 times the normal amount of erosion(Protecting Your Property from Erosion). Removing vegetation that holds the soil in place makes the land more vulnerable to the action of wind and water, leading to high rates and magnitudes of soil loss in the affected areas (Baldwin and Shelton). An awareness of environmental issues such as soil erosion often stems from personal experience that can lead to a desire to understand the issue, and support policies and practices that help to avoid the detrimental effects of soil erosion that can lead to catastrophic changes in the landscape that may greatly affect communities of people. I became directly aware of the great detrimental effects of soil erosion and the major inconveniences that it can cause as they occcurred last year through my personal experiences while traveling back and forth to a part time job.

A housing plan was being developed alongside of a steep slope in the road that I drove on to get to and from my job. The developer stripped the hillside, removing numerous trees and shrubbery in order to clear the land and begin preparing the individual properties for sale. This included digging foundations for houses, as well as leveling land for roads and utilities. Each day, as I passed the development, I glanced at the site and observed the progress. I had ridden on that road countless times in my life as either a passenger in my parents’ vehicle, or as a driver. It is a windy road through the countryside that is paved and smooth. Day after day, I passed the construction site, observed the development in progress, and enjoyed the smooth, windy, and scenic drive. This continued for several weeks and months, until one day I noticed a bump in the normally smooth ride as I passed the construction site below.

The same thing happened the next day. My car bounced up and down at the site as I passed by, and that bumpy feeling worsened each day over the course of the rest of the week. The following week I noticed that traffic was slowing down more each day as I approached the site. The excavation of the vegetation from the hillside that bordered the housing development and the road adjacent to it caused rapid soil erosion that destabilized the base of the hillside and thereby undermined the road. As a result, the road surface had shifted and there was a depression completely across the road that was several inches deep. A few days later, the pavement began to crack and break apart. The next week, the road was closed near the hillside, and reduced to one lane of traffic. This required the placement of Jersey barriers, flashing lights, stop signs, and warning signs along the road. The costs of the soil erosion were mounting. As the road surface further deteriorated, the depth of the collapsed surface approached one foot. Residents living along the road were greatly inconvenienced as traffic became heavy and vehicles lined up along the now one-lane road in front of their driveways and yards. Commuters had to plan extra time in their days to allow time to sit in the traffic, waiting to pass along the single lane stretch of road. School buses were forced to adjust their routes and schedules in order to bypass the heavily traveled main artery of road in this suburban/rural setting. Eventually, the sinking road became too dangerous for vehicle travel, and it was closed to all through traffic.

As a result, we were forced take alternative routs that caused us to drive along rural roads that were not only several miles out of our way, but also were not constructed for heavy vehicle travel. Within a couple of months, one of the alternative rural roads that I took began to collapse along a steep incline as the hillside could not handle the heavy traffic flow and large vehicles such as fully loaded school buses, garbage trucks, and other large trucks that were forced upon it. Meanwhile, the original road remained closed while officials from the state, county, local borough, and representatives from the developer argued over who was at fault for the road collapse. One thing was certain. Regardless of who was responsible for giving the final word to allow excavating of the trees and shrubbery from alongside the hillside that supported that road, the culprit of this road collapse was rapid soil erosion.

Soil erosion is a natural phenomenon that is affected by many factors in terms of the rate and magnitude of change to the land (Butler). Soil is stabilized by the vegetation that is present. Soil erosion takes place in a rapid and unnatural manner whenever vegetation is excavated in large quantities. The roots of trees take up and create spaces that allow water to flow through the spaces and downward away from the surface of the soil, thereby maintaining the integrity of the land. Furthermore, roots absorb water and transfer it toward the upper and outer portions of plants and trees, thereby relieving the ground of excessive water. Saturated ground does not absorb water, and in the case of hillsides in particular, it allows for excessive runoff that carries topsoil away and decreases the stabilization of the ground (Baldwin and Shelton).

In the example of the road destabilization, the soil erosion was more swift and excessive due to the steepness of the slope of the hillside that was stripped of its vegetation, because the steeper the slope of the land, the greater the amount of the soil runoff (Baldwin and Shelton). In the construction industry, there are several acceptable methods that are utilized to minimize soil erosion during the planning and constructing process. These are most effective when the work is carefully and properly planned, scheduled, and controlled by the builder and officials who are responsible to ensure that the plans meet the specifications for design, as well as local, regional, and national land management resource objectives (United States Environmental Protection Agency).

Soil erosion is an environmental concern that is very important to all of us. Although deforestation on a large scale is the greatest concern regarding land conversion issues, small housing development projects such as those described in this paper affect local communities and collectively pose a potential to regional ecosystems (Farley). Efforts should be made to take extreme caution with building projects for residential, commercial, and roadway projects, in order to prevent unnecessary environmental damage. It is important to avoid vast areas of tree and shrubbery excavation unless intense soil studies and topographical analyses have been performed with success. New tree growth takes years to reach maturity, and is not enough of a deterrent to soil erosion in the early period following land development. Although the costs of soil and environmental analysis during the planning of construction and housing project developments are high, they pale in comparison to the immense costs of post disaster analysis, court battles, and repairs. Furthermore, we cannot put a price on the inconvenience to the daily lives of people who are affected by such tragedies, and we all need to be aware of not only our local interests in the environment, but how phenomena such as soil erosion are a global issue that collectively creates both direct and indirect damage to our lands, natural resources, food sources, communities, and people.



Works Cited

1. Association of Bay Area Governments. “Protecting Your Property

from Erosion,” 2008.

http://www.abag.ca.gov/bayarea/enviro/erosion/erosion.html
2. Baldwin and Shelton, “Soil Erosion-Causes and Effects,” Fact sheet #572,
Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs; 2003. Ontario, Canada.
about.omafra@ontario.ca
3. Butler, Rhett A. “Diversities of Image - Rainforest Biodiversity.”

Mongabay.com / A Place Out of Time: Erosion and its Effects. 9 January

2006.
http://rainforests.mongabay.com/0305.htm.
4. Farley, “Land Use Conversion,” USDA Forest Service International Programs,

2007
http://www.fs.fed.us/global/aboutus/policy/tt/reports/4threats/conversion.pdf
5. United States Environmental Protection Agency, ”Management Measures for

Forestry.” February, 2008.

http://www.epa.gov/owow/nps/MMGI/Chapter3/ch3-2c.html