Is this just projection? Does your pet snake actually like you?
In: Biology
A lot of those animals aren’t inherently antisocial, either. They’re smart enough to recognize the general fact that you are a source of food and comfort. That’s plenty incentive to be nice to you. And a lot of animals have a sense of territory. You could just be identified as part of their territory.
Also we anthropomorphize their behavior. Meaning we interpret their behavior from the POV of a human. But the reasons for their behavior and what that behavior means may be totally different. So we may see what they do as “social” but the truth is it isn’t. I like the shade of a tree, but my behavior doesn’t mean I an socializing with the tree or see the tree as a social equal. Maybe I don’t even understand that the shade comes from the tree. So you’d be surprised if I cut the tree down later, but that’s because you expect me to have normal human reasoning and know the shade comes from the tree.
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