how do animals know what species they are even though they have never seen themselves?

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I’m talking about the ones that were never raised by a parent but know not to attack their own kind even though they should have never been able to know what they themselves look like and compare it.

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Anonymous 0 Comments

They don’t. This is why they often mix with other species, raise their kids or commit cannibalism.

It is common for animals to mate with similiar looking species even though the off spring can’t reproduce. Have you ever seen a half white half green duck like this (https://www.birds.cornell.edu/crows/images/Mallard%20domestic%20Union%20Springs,%20Cayuga%20Co.,%20NY%2019Feb06%207593a.jpg). That is the offspring between a mallard and a domnestic duck. The mallard really didn’t know or care that the domn. duck is from a different species.

It is also common for some birds to throw out eggs from another species’ nest, throw in their own ones and watch the foreign mother actually raise them. Look at this pic (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/Reed_warbler_cuckoo.jpg). Yes, the much smaller bird is actually the mommy and she has no idea that she is feeding a completely different bird species.

Lastly, canninalism is also a good examples. Dragonflies eat other dragonflies species but also their own. They don’t care if they eat their own species and evolution doesn’t either actually. Some animal species actually profit from them, but mostly fish, frogs, insects and spiders.

You also have to remember that the term species is smth that humans invented. To an alien tourist that defines a species differently, a horse and a donkey can belong to the same species.

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