How Far Does Behavioral Sink Go? :: Animals Environmental Wildlife Essays

How Far Does Behavioral Sink Go? If you ask any American what behavioral sink is, they more than likely won’t be able to define the term. It seems that everyone has become subject to this mysterious term, in once sense or another. Behavioral Sink, as described by the author, Tom Wolfe in the excerpt â€Å"O Rotten Gotham† from â€Å"A Forest of Voices†, is the study of how animals relate to their environment. In one of Wolfe’s studies he speaks of this behavioral sink in New York City. He talks about how overcrowding causes this. As observed by Wolfe, New Yorkers tended to be more aggressive and cold towards one another. When driving they were found to be screaming at each other because of traffic, speeding through a crowd getting aggravated and not really knowing why. They all seemed to be greatly stressed with a tendency to foster ulcers. He also studied the effects of overcrowding in Sika deer and rats. They all showed changes in behavior, even when there was plenty of food, water, and shelter due to this lack of personal space. When an autopsy was performed on the animals, it showed that their thyroids seem to enlarge, while their bodies looked genuinely healthy. The deer seemed to die of an adrenaline shock from their thyroids, due to the stress of no personal space. Wolfe seemed to think that if you did an autopsy on the deceased people in New York City, they would show the same general signs of thyroid enlargement. The interesting connection that humans have to rats is the grouping they exhibit. The leader-rats seem to take their own groups and then the average to below average rats gather together. Human aristocrats and wealthier people, like the leader rats, tend to live in suburbs and live in quieter, nicer places. The other people, like the average to below average rats, seemed to live in smaller apartments and much more crowded, less healthy areas like the slums. The average rats showed signs of violence, aggravation, homo and bi-sexuality, and all showed increasing signs of cancer and other diseases. The interesting connection here is that by my own observations, the same things seem to be happening in the world today. How Far Does Behavioral Sink Go? :: Animals Environmental Wildlife Essays How Far Does Behavioral Sink Go? If you ask any American what behavioral sink is, they more than likely won’t be able to define the term. It seems that everyone has become subject to this mysterious term, in once sense or another. Behavioral Sink, as described by the author, Tom Wolfe in the excerpt â€Å"O Rotten Gotham† from â€Å"A Forest of Voices†, is the study of how animals relate to their environment. In one of Wolfe’s studies he speaks of this behavioral sink in New York City. He talks about how overcrowding causes this. As observed by Wolfe, New Yorkers tended to be more aggressive and cold towards one another. When driving they were found to be screaming at each other because of traffic, speeding through a crowd getting aggravated and not really knowing why. They all seemed to be greatly stressed with a tendency to foster ulcers. He also studied the effects of overcrowding in Sika deer and rats. They all showed changes in behavior, even when there was plenty of food, water, and shelter due to this lack of personal space. When an autopsy was performed on the animals, it showed that their thyroids seem to enlarge, while their bodies looked genuinely healthy. The deer seemed to die of an adrenaline shock from their thyroids, due to the stress of no personal space. Wolfe seemed to think that if you did an autopsy on the deceased people in New York City, they would show the same general signs of thyroid enlargement. The interesting connection that humans have to rats is the grouping they exhibit. The leader-rats seem to take their own groups and then the average to below average rats gather together. Human aristocrats and wealthier people, like the leader rats, tend to live in suburbs and live in quieter, nicer places. The other people, like the average to below average rats, seemed to live in smaller apartments and much more crowded, less healthy areas like the slums. The average rats showed signs of violence, aggravation, homo and bi-sexuality, and all showed increasing signs of cancer and other diseases. The interesting connection here is that by my own observations, the same things seem to be happening in the world today.