Relationship between intelligence and violence?

[Super Communist]

After reading several articles about male dolphins bludgeoning dolphins calf's to death for almost an hour, chimpanzees tearing off the genitals and faces of their victims, and adolescent elephants killing rhinos for no purpose what so ever I started wondering if animals with higher intelligence have the potential to be more violent than those with weaker mental capability's.

Humans are a great example of animals committing unnecessary violence killing others when they get insulted by another, torturing those with a different religion, or killing those with a different appearance.

So my question is whether you think that intelligence and cruelty are related.

[Venomous Dragon]

I believe they are. I will elaborate once im on the computer and not my phone.

[Super Communist]

So far I am leaning on the yes side, its seems once animals start to understand thing like comfort, fun, and pleasure they start to kill and fight for more than just the bare necessities.

[Canid Cetus Aves]

I think so too. This may be eliminate competition. In the Dolphin case, the male probably did that so that there would be no babies to take his place. Plus they would need to find more food since there is now another dolphin to feed. In the Chimpanzee, well, I don't really know. What it does to it's victims is just weird. In the Elephant case, again, eliminating competition. Rhino's obviously eat a lot. So the Elephant's may just kill Rhino's because of food.

This is just my opinion. I'm not so sure though.

[Super Communist]

In the Dolphin case, the male probably did that so that there would be no babies to take hiss place.

So far the most likely explanation is that they kill a mother dolphins calf so that they can mate with it, but experts are sure if males are the only gender to kill calves, and I really don't think it was an issue on food since fish aren't lacking in number and the kills usually are very lengthy and I would think that ramming into something for a half an hour or more would take up a lot of energy.

www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/earthnews/3323070/Killer-dolphins-baffle-marine-experts.html

In the Chimpanzee, well, I don't really know. What it does to it's victims is just weird.

Chimps are know to commit rape and seriously wound old males that are a non threat to them.

books.google.com/books?id=fP0c4b3jbMYC&pg=PA132&lpg=PA132&dq=orangutan+violence&source=bl&ots=S5pB45HlwE&sig=jqF0wyqtdTiOE0IOMGLP2y-qjjs&hl=en&ei=9efGTv7QJaT50gHLna0r&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=6&ved=0CFIQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=orangutan%20violence&f=false

Read pages seven and seventeen.

In the Elephant case, again, eliminating competition. Rhino's obviously eat a lot. So the Elephant's may just kill Rhino's because of food.

Killing rhinos isn't normal behavior and even then elephants prefer to eat leaves and bark, food that rhinos don't go after.

[Canid Cetus Aves]

In that case, I have no clue.

[Deinobrontornis]

Killing rhinos isn't normal behavior and even then elephants prefer to eat leaves and bark, food that rhinos don't go after.

Umm...aren't elephants grazers and rhinos browsers?

[Venomous Dragon]

Nov 19, 2011 22:34:17 GMT -5 Deinobrontornis said:

Killing rhinos isn't normal behavior and even then elephants prefer to eat leaves and bark, food that rhinos don't go after.

Umm...aren't elephants grazers and rhinos browsers?

black rhinos are browsers white are grazers.

[mobster]

cape buffalos are known to charge sleeping lion prides and hunting down cubs as preventative punishment.

[Anomonyous]

Intelligence may allow greater capacity to inflict suffering, but it also allows you to do more good. Yes, some dolphins may ram and kill calves and porpoises, but you cannot apply that to every dolphin. Considering this behavior has only been observed in a few populations, I would say the percentage that practice infanticide is probably not very high. It's unlikely that every male dolphin in those populations does so either. If you wanted to take an example of undesirable behavior (through human eyes) and paint every member of that species as such, why, we would be the worst by far.
Dolphins have also protected or saved people with no return benefit on their part. There are a few stories where they've circled people when a shark came/attacked, and I doubt they would be putting themselves through that effort and potential danger if they thought humans were just toys. (Some have said that they may think of us as other dolphins, but damn, if they were that stupid, they would have gone extinct a while ago. Still a rescue all the same, anyhow.)

Nov 18, 2011 18:22:04 GMT -5 Super Communist said:

Killing rhinos isn't normal behavior and even then elephants prefer to eat leaves and bark, food that rhinos don't go after.

There was an instance in the wild where an elephant stabbed a rhinoceros and killed it. I don't believe the confrontation was recorded, so for what reason we know not.
Some of the elephants that did kill rhinos were, I think, orphans who saw their family get slaughtered by poachers. Seeing that would screw up any being with that level of sentience and social bonding.