Animals+and+Biology

This is page where students are exploring //Life of Pi// using the focus topic of the Animals and Biology and what these teach Pi.

Please respect students' responses by leaving the comments, additions, etc. as is.

Sarah, Becca,Cara and Alicia's Space! __Becca, Alicia, Sarah, Cara: Period 3__   1) “After an intense stare at Orange Juice, the hairs on its neck and shoulders stood up and its tail rose straight in the air. It climbed back onto the dying zebra. There, blood dripping from its mouth, it responded to Orange Juice in kind, with a higher-pitched roar. The two animals were three feet apart, wide-open jaws directly facing. They put all their energies into their cries, their bodies shaking with the effort. “  - This quote is very intense and it really shows what extremes animals go to when they are deprived of their regular resources that they are used to getting everday. They book talked about how in the wild a monkey and a hyena would never meet, so it would be impossible for them to have an encounter with each other. But because of the circumstances they have no choice but to go after each other. Both animals are deprived of food and water and their instincts of “I have to survive” kick in and they will do anything to be the one on top. By the sound of it they put every inch of their strength to stay alive. Who do you think will come out on top? 2) "I am not one to hold a prejudice against any animal, but it is a plain fact that the spotted hyena is not well served by it's appearance. It's ugly beyond redemption."  - Firstly, this quote is hilarious, second I believe everyone, like pi, struggle with some sort of prejudice. I feel that there is something that is just so repulsive to an individual whether it be soggy bread, visible socks or roller ball pens. Everyone has something they just detest and Pi just proves that no matter how much you love a species, there is still a downfall to a little part of them.  3) "... if it weren't for this hyena, the sailors wouldn't have thrown me into the lifeboat and I would have drowned."  - Pi is thinking back to what could have happened if the sailors did not throw him overboard and how everything happened for reason. Pi was actually saved when he was thrown overboard, and ultimately owes it to the hyena.  4)"The queerest thing about the reptile was simply that it was. It looked incongruous, floating there in the water, so odd in it's shape compared to the sleek, slippery design of the fish. Yet it was plainly in it's element and it was i who was the odd one out. It hoovered by the boat for several minutes".﻿  -I could just picture the turtle floating in the water looking at the boat. This description let me have a better understanding of what the turtle was exactly doing. Plus the imagry was just incredible. One question i have is why did Pi feel like the odd one out?   5) "I saw a triangle slicing the water fifteen feet away. It was a shark's fin. An awrul tingle, cold and liquid, went up and down my spine. I swam fast as i could to one end of the lifeboat, the end still covered by the tarpaulin...".  -If i were to have seen a shark i would have flipped out! Sharks are one of the most dangerous animals in the U.S. So many deaths and bad injuries have happened and it just scares me. I do not like sharks so if i were in Pi's situation i don't know what i would have done. I say he's a man because he actually felt the sharks fin rub against him! This just shows that Pi isn't scared of animals, he appreciates them and he thinks that if he appreciates them then they will appreciate him!  

QUOTE: “Zoo detractors should realize that animals don’t escape to somewhere, but from something.”(pg. 51)
====ANNOTATION: This quote makes perfect sense because earlier in the book Pi talks about how animals like repetition and they do not like change. So why would an animal want to escape to a place that is unfamiliar and that could potentially harm them. Think about in terms of us has humans. We don’t normally run to a place that we are unfamiliar with, because we don’t like feeling out of place and scared. This is the same with animals they enjoy familiarity and feeling safe. Animals are not that much different then humans when it comes to how we feel about strange places. The only reason animals run are because something is harming them and they need to escape from what ever is harming them. For example in the picture with the zebra and cheetah, the zebra is running from the cheetah because the cheetah will harm it if it doesn’t get away. That is why animals escape, from something, not to somewhere. QUOTE: "The elephants. The most dangerous animal of all. More keepers and visitors are killed by elephants than by any other animal in a zoo. A young elephant will most likely dismember you and trample your body parts flat.” (pg. 47)  ANNOTATION: This just shows us that an animal who looks like it doesn’t do much harm to someone really does. Elephants are my favorite animals and it was weird hearing this statement because I would never have thought that this would be the most dangerous animal. Yes, they are huge and could crush you in a second, but I don’t think that they move very fast, so I just don’t see how it could be the most dangerous. Video clip: [] ==== <span style="color: #880621; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">QUOTE: "fiddler crabs scurry when you're ten yards away; howler monkeys stir in their branches when you're at twenty; African buffaloes react at seventy five." (p.49) <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> ANNOTATION: This makes me wonder what boundries humans have for themselves? Every person has a different limit, but it's fascinating that animals and humans differ so much in this area. Back hundreds of years ago I would expect that humans would have higher boundries considering people were more foreign than they are today in the technical age. I believe humans have higher limits for emotional boundries than physical boundries.

QUOTE: "Mahisha was beside himself-he looked as if he were about to burst through the bars. He seemed to hesitate between staying where he was, at the place where his prey was closest but most certainly out of reach, and moving to the ground level, further away but where the trapdoor was located. He raised himself and started snarling again." (p.44) ANNOTATION: Pi's father gathered his family to see the might of a beastly tiger. He was right in showing his children the power and ferociousness that is contained in a creature so beautiful to behold. This is a lesson I believe he learned from nature, in the wild cubs know the danger of a predator. Humans try to keep children sheltered, and without worry. I believe it is a good thing to protect them, but also to make them aware of dangers that they can prevent. Children are naturally courageous and I believe there is a way to come across to children the dangers they face in an impowering way.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">QUOTE: "Much hostile and aggressive behaviour among animals is the expression of social insecurity." (pg. 54) ANNOTATION: The lives of animals are often similar to human. They have a social rank and it determines who they can associate with and other aspects of life, like where they can rest, etc. Usually animals that are intimidating to other animals and scarier, are usually ranked higher. Its like we, as humans, always want to come out on top, whether it be money, fame, victory, etc. Animals are trying to take their place in their society and it comes down to 'the strongest survive longer'. Pi is just trying to figure out things about him and where he stands in society, and what he believes in. <span style="color: #880621; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"><span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;">Existentialism: <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0in 0in 0pt;"> “Starry Night”-Expressionism art in Extentia.

Gogh’s Church was a place he found peace. He was in a mental institute for a time in his life. He enjoyed the nearby church that he painted a masterpiece. 2yrs after painting this work of art, he committed suicide Definition: E<span style="color: #222222; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">xistentialism is a philosophy concerned with finding self and the meaning of life through free will, choice, and personal responsibility.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">“Assumes that people are entirely free and thus responsible for what they make of themselves”

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;">This is just saying that anyone can choose what they want to do, who they want to be, and how they want to live their life. No one should be able to control another person’s life. You got to go through it by yourself. Well not by yourself, but you have to choose what will be best for yourself.

focus of philosophical thought should be to deal with the conditions of existence of the individual person and his or her emotions, actions , responsibilities, and thoughts

song:

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· AMERICAN PIE: <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">I started singin’, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">"bye-bye, miss american pie." <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Drove my chevy to the levee, <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But the levee was dry. <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey and rye <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And singin’, "this’ll be the day that I die. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">"this’ll be the day that I die." <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Oh, and while the king was looking down, <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The jester stole his thorny crown. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The courtroom was adjourned; <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">No verdict was returned. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And while lennon read a book of marx, <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The quartet practiced in the park, <span style="color: red; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And we sang dirges in the dark <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The day the music died <span style="color: #5f497a; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">Oh, and as I watched him on the stage <span style="color: #5f497a; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">My hands were clenched in fists of rage <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">. <span style="color: #5f497a; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">And in the streets: the children screamed, <span style="color: #5f497a; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">. <span style="color: #c0504d; font-family: 'Verdana','sans-serif'; font-size: 8.5pt; line-height: 115%;">But not a word was spoken THOUGHTS: When I first thought of Existentialism and I saw pictures I thought of confusion and disorder of someones thoughts. Everyone is always thinking about mulitple things at a time and you can get overwhelmed and confused with your thoughts, and possibly do something that you did not intend to do.

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<span style="color: #880621; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">__**<span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Alek, Sean, Jeff, Nick, Kevin, Kelley's Space (Period 2) **__ <span style="color: #880621; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Life of Pi Quotes: <span style="color: #880621; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">"In both cases we look at an animal and see a mirror. The obsession with putting ourselves at the center of everything is the bane not only of theologians but also of zoologists. I learned the lesson that an animal is an animal, essentially and practically removed from us, twice: once with Father and once with Richard Parker." Chapter 8, P. 31. <span style="color: #880621; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">"Animals in the wild lead lives of compulsion and necessity within an unforgiving social hierarchy in an environment where the supply of fear is high and the supply of food low and where territory must constantly be defended and parasites forever endured. What is the meaning of freedom in such a context? Animals in the wild are, in practice, free neither in space nor in time, nor in their personal relations." Chapter 4, P. 16. <span style="color: #880621; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">“Tree took account of road, which was aware of air, which was mindful of sea, which shared things with sun. Every element lived in harmonious relation with its neighbour, and all was kith and kin.” p. 62 //Pi is returning// <span style="position: static; text-decoration: underline !important;">home //from a visit with Mr. Kumar, the Sufi. He has a feeling that the connectedness of all things has been revealed to him by God.//

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oEYH7m1cmo [|Hugs With Lions]

<span style="color: #880621; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;"> Other: <span style="color: #880621; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Our task must be to free ourselves... by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty. //Albert Einstein// <span style="color: #880621; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">Lots of people talk to animals.... Not very many listen, though.... That's the problem. //Benjamin Hoff, The Tao of Pooh// <span style="color: #880621; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode','Lucida Grande',sans-serif;">I don't believe in the concept of hell, but if I did I would think of it as filled with people who were cruel to animals. //Gary Larson// If you have men who will exclude any of God's creatures from the shelter of compassion and pity, you will have men who will deal likewise with their fellow men. //St. Francis of Assisi// DO ANIMALS HAVE EXISTENTIAL THOUGHTS??? 1. Animals mourn. elephants, hippos, apes to name a few have all exhibited actions of mourning, which is an awareness of the cessation (and therefore the existence) of life other than that defined by the physical body.

2. Animals recognize themselves in a mirror. Dolphins and apes recognize themselves in the mirror, which is an awareness of personal existence.

3. Animals play. Adult otters and dolphins play. The acts of expending energy and resources on physical pleasure aside from mating or eating are attempts to acheive more than simple survival, but rather a more substantial existance.

All animals (including humans) are "thrown" into existence and never "asked" or "wanted" to be born. Think of the possibility of being born as a "frog" or "bacteria". What would our perception of the world be like? However, humans are unique in that we have "intellectual capabilities". We sort of "know" more about the nature of existence than most other animals. I do believe that some animals are "existentially aware" and have cognitive abilities that enable them to survive. Thus, all forms of life (especially sentient animals) are "existentially aware".

60 TO 100 PEOPLE ARE KILLED BY TIGERS EACH YEAR!!!!!!!

I am Alek Montgomery. I am a 17 year old kid living in a big world. I am a student. I am an athlete. I am snowboarder. I am a twin. I am a brother and a son. I am a consumer and entrepreneur. I am a fan. I am a gamer. I am religious. I am a friend. I am confident. I am talented. I am a piano player. I am an observer. I am a goal setter. I am scared of heights. I am happy, sad, joyful, excited, concerned. I am a lover of food. I am organized. I am afraid of the dark. I am a dreamer, I am right. I am what I am.