[benkahuna]

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I find these stories interesting because they illustrate that animals do not behave simply as we expect. I was told in neuroanatomy that any animal with a cortex can learn unique behaviors not simply a program from their genetics (obviously genetics establishes the parameters of their behavior--expressed genetics).

I'm also told that traditional vegatarian animals and carnivorous animals mix up their diets more than most people think eating dense protein or vegatable matter as well.

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benkahuna, a discussion you might like to have with your Jewish (by religion) friends one time on this point.

In Bereishit (Genesis) it is commonly believed that in the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve didn't eat meat, but only after the "fall" of mankind by disobeying God did they eat meat.

Interesting question to ask your Jewish friends if whether they believe Adam and Eve discovered this on their own (by their cortex) or whether God made them aware of it. (ie - believe God made them directly aware of it as in "Hey guys, see 'Henry the sheep' over there, he also doubles as food"?)

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My Jewish friends are not really religious, but it would be a question producing revealing answers if they were.

Does G-d have to sneak into every discussion in this forum? :P Ick.

My take is that the cortex exists in animals as phyogenetically distant as the turtle and seems to have the same implications in all animals that have one. G-d being all powerful could, in this situation, have allowed such discoveries to occur by chance (because the cortex enables learning) or somehow intervened to make it happen.