Mongoose behaviour might help us understand war. I have my thoughts.

I will start with my thoughts on why humans start wars. It is a current topic for all the wrong reasons. Many people believe that the world is drifting towards World War 3. The Ukraine war is almost forgotten because of what is happening in Israel and now with the attack by Iran on Israel which was thwarted.

The reason why humans get involved in wars

This is a very difficult topic. I believe there are three fundamental reasons. They are:

• It is inherent in humans to fight
• Humans are still tribal; a genetic inheritance from the beginnings of the human race when they lived in tribes. Humans still live in tribes in parts of the world.
• The tribal protection of resources in whatever shape or form they come.
• War needs to happen from time to time as it's almost like an addiction which you suppress and then eventually it bubbles to the surface. There is happening right now, 2024.

Mongooses

The title in The Times newspaper is: War, what is it good for? Why mongooses may yield a clue.

Mongooses go to war in a chaotic way says Tom Whipple The Times science editor. They are hard to study for this reason. Mongoose wars start when a female runs from the "tribe" in which they live to an opposing tribe looking for a male mate. She does this because mongooses live in very closed societies. The groups are very close-knit. This means that females don't get a chance to meet up with a male outside of the group in order to ensure that her offspring have genetic diversity.

In running to an opposing "tribe" or group she kicks off a war because the males follow her into enemy territory. They find the rival group and there's a massive conflagration. "Everyone's screaming their heads off".

It seems to me that in reference to mongoose behaviour, they start 'war' over access to resources which happens to be females for procreation (and the survival of the family/group). That's how I see it. It is another version of protecting resources. A lot of human wars are about that.

But of course the problem with mongooses starts with the close-knit groups and a lack of opportunity for a female to procreate effectively. The root cause of the problem is that but perhaps this is also part of animal nature.

Humans form close-knit groups as well and they protect their resources. People find comfort in their group. There is a saying that if you meet a group or person you don't know you might fear them and when you fear another there is tendency is to be defensive towards them which can lead to aggressivity towards them which can lead to wars. That I think is a kind of pattern at play here.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.