In the first place, we should look into what a taboo is.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, “taboo” is a noun that defines something that is avoided or forbidden for religious or social reasons.
As stated by BBC, the word “taboo” was originally “tapu”, and still is in the Polynesian culture. It is used to describe a sacred demand to preserve our well being, also related to constraints, but also respect.
Gregory Forth, the author of “Oceania”, Vol. 77, wrote about this topic, entitling it “Applications of ‘Taboo’ among the Nage of Eastern Indonesia” (pages 215 to 231).
Very briefly, Gregory states that these taboos do indeed happen in the animal world, at least for the Nage, in other words, the indigenous on the islands of Flores and Timor in eastern Indonesia.
Some of the examples he gave comprise:
- Nesting bees and wasps;
- Close calling owls;
- Mating and whelping dogs;
- Crowing cocks;
- Etc.
You can find more about it here:
However, you’re probably wondering if this happens without any human interference.
There isn’t any scientific proof that this happens in the animal kingdom. However, there’s a lot of debate on whether animals have ethics or not.
Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce, a philosopher and a scientist, worked together in the writing of the book “Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals”, where they compare animal behavior to human actions, stating that they possess emotions, just like us.
Tom Heneghan commented on this book on the website below:
He mentioned some of the studies the book had implemented, including:
- A leg-injured elephant whose fellow elephants in her herd slowed down and helped;
- Dogs compromise on a play session without anyone being left hurt — if those surpass the boundaries, they become kept out of the party;
- Caged rats trained to reach a food level will not do it when that causes scientists to send an electric shock to a rat in the next cage;
- Vampire bats distribute the blood they acquire with those who are unable to go out to get their normal dose.
With these four examples that Tom referred to, we can deduce that animals usually have boundaries between themselves, which relates to taboos. Animals can define if something is wrong to execute and can even punish some behaviors inside their circle, even though there isn’t any scientific evidence.
