Many animals are cute and cuddly, or fearsome and brave. But how many “human” characteristics can we impose on them? Anthropomorphism is about the attribution of human characteristics and purposes to animals, when the animals are in fact not behaving as we think they are. This is a common tendency of human psychology.
These tendencies came to the fore this week when a picture — a single moment captured digital and frozen in time — showed a male kangaroo holding its dying mate in an apparent act of mourning.
The picture first appeared in the Brisbane’s Courier Mail, taken by amateur photographer Evan Switzer, and then it went viral. Heart strings were pulled and comments made on Facebook and Twitter about this act of affection.
It may have looked this way, but it simply wasn’t true according to kangaroo expert Dr Mark Eldridge, who is the Australian Museum’s principal research scientist. What the male was doing was attempting to have sexual intercourse with the dying female roo.
Why is Dr Eldridge so certain? Crudely put, he told the BBC: “The evidence is here sticking out from behind the scrotum.” He also noted the male’s wet forearms, a sign that the kangaroo had been excessively licking itself. This is a common behavior when the marsupials become hot. Eldridge added: “Probably the whole situation is perplexing and frustrating for him, and he is getting… hot and bothered.”
Another trait of kangaroos is that they do not pair bond; a male will simply select a female, and contest her with another male if necessary.
As to the presence of the joey in the picture, the biologist thinks the young animal was unaware his mother was dying and would have been attempting to suckle. The photograph taken appears as if a male, female, and youngster are one family unit.
Sometimes, even in the age of new media, images can be misinterpreted and not everything is as it first appears.
