the monkey manifesto: adventure

I don't understand where Instinct comes from. Yes, I understand that Instinct is defined as:

An inborn pattern of behavior that is characteristic of a species and is often a response to specific environmental stimuli.

but what causes it?

I realize that this a question that is almost certainly unanswerable simply by its own nature. But perhaps it's not. I mean, I didn't go very far with psychology and other studies of the mind, and perhaps this is answered or hypothesized about somewhere. But I don't know.

Perhaps it's one of those questions that can only be answered with "that." As in:

"What's instinct?"
"That's instinct."

Like our cat, for instance. Where did it learn to sharpen it's claws? It's mother died and she was only with her brothers and sisters for a few weeks before my family got her from my cousin. Now none of the tiny kittens sharpened their claws when she was with them still, so were does that instinct come from?

I also realize that animals must be able to survive on their own very quickly as compared to humans. We learn and learn and learn. We'd never survive without parents. But animals can and do, very quickly. And it all results from those inborn instincts.

What causes them? Or better yet, what started them? When was instinctual behavior not instinctual. Was there ever a time when cats were really dirty, unless their mom taught them to clean themselves.

I guess most of this has stemmed from watching too many nature shows. One tonight told me that orangutans must learn a lot from their parents. That knowing what to eat wasn't instinctual. But a lot of this has also stemmed from watching the cat.

How does it know to use the litter box?