[HN Gopher] She Steals Surfboards by the Seashore. She's a Sea O...
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She Steals Surfboards by the Seashore. She's a Sea Otter
Author : samclemens
Score : 36 points
Date : 2023-07-12 19:35 UTC (3 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (www.nytimes.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.nytimes.com)
| [deleted]
| mcpackieh wrote:
| Otter gets habituated by humans feeding it. Researchers capture
| the otter and it loses even more fear of humans. Researchers
| release the otter, and now plan to capture and interact with it
| again because it isn't afraid of humans. I presume it will become
| even more habituated to humans after researchers recapture it.
|
| Wouldn't this problem sort itself out if a few kayakers gave the
| otter some harmless smacks with their paddles to instill a little
| fear?
| ddalcino wrote:
| That will just make her mad. Then she'll steal your kayak.
| rowborg wrote:
| The article indicates that it was 841's mother who was likely
| fed by humans. 841 was born in captivity and care was taken to
| prevent human association:
|
| _The pup was raised by her mother until she was weaned, then
| moved to the Monterey Bay Aquarium. To bolster her chances for
| success upon release, 841's caretakers took measures to prevent
| the otter from forming positive associations with humans,
| including wearing masks and ponchos that obscured their
| appearance when they were around her._
| Aloha wrote:
| I'd guess this is how domestication happens, over
| generations. It kinda fits my understanding of domestication.
| totalconfusion wrote:
| Highly recommend this radio show if this is something
| you're interested in.
|
| https://radiolab.org/podcast/new-nice
| pengaru wrote:
| At this point I think we can be confident their "measures"
| were wishful thinking at best...
| squarefoot wrote:
| Some animals learn to use tools to solve problems, for example
| crows [0]. What if that otter was just using the board to travel
| longer distances (=> finding more food) by keeping nearby a safer
| place to rest on?
|
| 0: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZerUbHmuY04
| im_down_w_otp wrote:
| I feel like there's a real missed opportunity here to lean on
| this particular otter's gene pool to breed the seafaring version
| of St. Bernard alpine rescue dogs.
|
| Though it's also possible I've watched too much Octonauts with my
| kids.
| johnea wrote:
| I think surfrider foundation should just gift that otter a
| board...
| nomel wrote:
| I wonder if that could help it "get bored" of surfboards.
| johnea wrote:
| Somehow I doubt it, most humans seem to stay interested even
| after having their own...
|
| But it might not be so determined to steal them from
| otherss...
| adolph wrote:
| This and the recent orca stories have made me wonder about animal
| meta-learning: the mental processes that go into motivating,
| succeeding and sustaining non-instinctual behaviors. Clearly
| different kinds of animals can be trained to behave in certain
| ways. Is it possible to train an animal to train other animals?
| Terr_ wrote:
| * * *
| zgluck wrote:
| I'm sure it was cute the first couple of times...
|
| Some animals have this way of doing things over and over for a
| very long time, for many days.
|
| It's not cute at day 155.
| metadat wrote:
| https://archive.today/bREsi
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(page generated 2023-07-12 23:00 UTC)