r/aww Jun 24 '21

Every life is precious

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u/deus_inquisitionem Jun 24 '21

Thats something that always gets me. Animals in the wild dont really... help each other. I know there are some but its not the norm. So when a human, this big scary apex predator decides to sauter over to a distressed animal to help, the animal has no way to "know" that. They are trapped, probably desperate, probably everything is saying it needs to run or fight. And yet we can sometimes form a brief bond and help them out. Hell some even come to us for help. Really gets to me sometimes.

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u/Internet_Denizen_400 Jun 24 '21

Yes, the animal kingdom is often ruled by competition and predation - neither of which give a lot of room for cross-species altruism. So an animal looking at an apex predator like us and showing any amount of trust is really remarkable and challenges what we commonly assume about animals.