It s not easy being mammal. copyright 2011 Loretta Graziano Breuning imammalthebook.com

Transcription

1 It s not easy being mammal

2 Before mammals, creatures had thousands of babies and few lived to puberty.

3 Mammals pioneered the strategy of having few offspring and investing heavily in each one.

4 Reptiles leave their offspring at birth after pausing to eat any hatchlings that are under par.

5 Fish don t even wait for their eggs to hatch, but swim off as soon as they re fertilized.

6 Mammals form attachments, and guard their offspring constantly from predators.

7 It s not easy having your eggs in so few baskets.

8 Mammals began living in groups and fewer young were lost to predators.

9 It s not easy living in groups. When you see something you want, a bigger group mate wants it too.

10 Mammals evolved brain structures that manage social interactions with neurochemicals.

11 The mammal brain is skilled at deciding when to seize something that meets its needs, and when to hold back and avoid injury.

12 Mammals inherited reptile brains and added on.

13 Reptiles don t bond with other reptiles. Loners can lunge at food without worrying what the other guy will do.

14 Mammals size up others based on past experience with them. They evolved a brain to do this.

15 The mammal brain uses neurochemicals to interpret survival information.

16 It releases happy neurochemicals in response to something good for reproductive success...

17 ...and unhappy neurochemicals when something threatens reproductive success.

18 Only mammals have this limbic system.

19 All mammals have the same basic parts under their cortex.

20 Social bonds promote reproductive success, and the mammal brain rewards them with happy chemicals.

21 The chemical oxytocin rewards a mammal for bonds of trust, like social alliances and maternal-child bonding

22 The chemical dopamine rewards a mammal for meeting its needs.

23 The chemical sertonin rewards a mammal when it dominates.

24 Social dominance promotes reproductive success and the mammal brain rewards it with serotonin.

25 Females seek dominance as well as males, and more surviving offspring result.

26 The mammal brain cares about status as if its life depended on it because from its DNA s perspective, it does.

27 Status threats are survival threats to the mammal brain, and trigger stress chemicals.

28 Every mammal has a cortex that can restrain its neurochemical impulses.

29 A cortex can restrain the urge to grab when a bigger group mate is watching.

30 A mammal often decides it can survive the loss of one meal better than it can survive a nasty conflict.

31 Status comes before food because a cortex learns from harsh experience.

32 Size matters when it comes to the cortex.

33 A bigger cortex can store more experience with individual group mates...

34 ...and make more subtle judgements about when to seek dominance and when to submit to avoid harm.

35 Some people say a mammal inherits status from its mother.

36 But research shows that a mammal learns social dominance skills by mirroring elders.

37 Then it starts promoting its own genes using the brain it has built.

38 It s not easy being a social animal.

39 I, Mammal Why Your Brain Links Status and Happiness by Loretta Graziano Breuning $14.99 on Amazon.com