Sublime

Eroberung und Dominanz haben, oder aber weil sie von dem rein praktischen Wunsch geleitet sind, sich Zugang zu physischer Belohnung, Sicherheit oder Fortpflanzungserfolg zu verschaffen. Groos’ Befunde – die seither über hundert Jahre lang durch experimentelle Indizien bestätigt wurden –

Every animal species possesses a repertoire of behaviours. This behavioural repertoire is dependent on structures which evolution has built into the central nervous system of the species. Ethologists call these structures innate releasing mechanisms, or IRMs.

Sebbene, come già abbiamo detto, la vera fonte della fedeltà al padrone sia, per la maggior parte dei cani domestici, il perdurare dell’attaccamento infantile, quando questo è eccessivo può anche condurre a conseguenze opposte: tali bestie restano innegabilmente devote al padrone... ma anche a chiunque altro!

his human flock, and it was thus right and natural for his subjects to obey him

No one—not biologists, not Eskimos, not backwoods hunters, not naturalist writers—knows why wolves do what they do.

While he called it “loyalty,” the capacity he prized most in his subordinates was actually the capacity for subservience.