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Borders (slrpnk.net)
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[-] DarrinBrunner@lemmy.world 257 points 1 month ago

Borders are trees covered in pee.

[-] notabot@piefed.social 76 points 1 month ago

Sigh Unzip. If that's what I've got to do to carve out some space, then so be it!

[-] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 51 points 1 month ago

Welcome to Border Peetrol.

[-] CobraCommander@quokk.au 17 points 1 month ago

Paw Peetrol

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[-] itsaphoque@moist.catsweat.com 155 points 1 month ago

"Sorry sir, we have to deport you back to your impoverished, war-torn country, because wolves pee on trees".

Very compelling.

[-] ignotum@lemmy.world 35 points 1 month ago

It's as good an excuse as any ๐Ÿคทโ€โ™‚๏ธ

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[-] SuperPengato@scribe.disroot.org 23 points 1 month ago

Also, countries need authoritarian governments because lobsters pee on each-other's faces.

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[-] SpookyBogMonster@lemmy.ml 111 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

The modern notion of nation States, with clearly defined borders, and mechanisms of violence to enforce them, only arose around the 17th century.

Wolves don't build border walls, have customs checkpoints, or leave refugees to drown in the Mediterranean.

This isn't a "science meme", it's a falacious attempt to cloak reactionary rhetoric in the aesthetic garb of scientific rigor.

[-] IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 50 points 1 month ago

Might as well show plant tissues with defined cell walls and say "borders are natural".

[-] stickly@lemmy.world 13 points 1 month ago

Only a half truth. Borders may have been loosely defined but they were absolutely defended with violence. You couldn't wander in and hunt in your neighbors woods, take their timber or set up a farm too close. Hell, sometimes they even had well defined natural borders or walls (see: Hadrian's wall, the great wall of China)

Moving through an area in large numbers might draw a violent response and you might be coerced to leave if you spoke the wrong language or dressed the wrong way. If you were an unknown group of strangers they may well let your boat sink or leave you to starve outside their walls. Modern states have simply codified these reactions into law.

Proto-states and the associated mechanisms developed extremely quickly once sedentary agriculture became dominant. If your entire livelihood is tied to a field of grain you no longer get to run or hide from conflict; controlling who can and can't get near it becomes imperative.

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[-] darthsundhaft@piefed.social 107 points 1 month ago

Pretty sure their borders aren't made up of countries, taxes, and slavery.

[-] IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago

and they aren't forcing other animals to comply and pay taxes for the maintenance of those borders

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[-] too_high_for_this@lemmy.world 106 points 1 month ago

I know it's just a shitpost but it's so fucking stupid.

It's comparing a home to a country. Like arguing "If you're so against borders, I'll just come into your house at any time." No, fuckface, there's a difference between personal space and (what should be) public land.

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[-] stray@pawb.social 64 points 1 month ago

They overlap significantly. In addition to what's seen in the image, the wolves' territories will move around due to various conditions. There are no fixed lines that could be likened to states' borders, only vague areas that can be likened to respecting personal space. Compare the wolves' ranges with the white line indicating the national park border also seen in the image, which does not move around based on vibes.

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[-] luthis@lemmy.nz 60 points 1 month ago

Animals are more civilised than Israelis it seems

[-] supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz 39 points 1 month ago

Not a hard bar to clear.

[-] Capable_Coping@piefed.social 51 points 1 month ago

The top quote is refering to borders as a state construction. Nobody denies the existence of boundaries between things in general

[-] IAmNorRealTakeYourMeds@lemmy.world 14 points 1 month ago

those wolves don't cross borders those because they already have what they need, and avoid upsetting their neighbors. not because the other wolf built a fance and has an army that will kill him, and is forced to live in his territory and pay taxes so his territory can be protected ny an army that will kill any wolves that enter without permission.

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[-] PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S@anarchist.nexus 35 points 1 month ago

Yeah but we're not wolves ๐Ÿ˜„๐Ÿด

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[-] the_abecedarian@piefed.social 34 points 1 month ago

those aren't borders, those are territories arrived at by wolves interacting with each other and deciding to keep the peace. has nothing to do with formal borders imposed on us by states

[-] krisevol@lemmus.org 51 points 1 month ago

You just described a border.

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[-] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 40 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

has nothing to do with formal borders imposed on us by states

You mean the territories arrived at by entities who interact with each other and decide to keep the peace as an abstract representation of those residing within them?

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[-] Track_Shovel@slrpnk.net 30 points 1 month ago
[-] PM_ME_VINTAGE_30S@anarchist.nexus 20 points 1 month ago

I mean we're on Lemmy in /c/sciencememes, i.e. (pedantic fuckweasels)ยฒ ๐Ÿ˜†

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[-] LinkeSocke@feddit.org 32 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I must have totally forgotten that I'm a Wolf. I've always thought that I'm a Human. Crazy. Good to know that now. But I want that Friedrich Merz pisses on all of them trees at the German Border, because thats how the natural way to mark ur territory just works. And everything from nature is always the perfect and correct bahaivor for everyone!

[-] merdaverse@lemmy.zip 23 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Exactly. Wolves are also one of the species that practice infanticide. Clearly there is no point in being better, and we should just replicate everything we see in nature.

Whenever someone makes an appeal to nature, you know you're in for a treat.

[-] musubibreakfast@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

I pissed in my neighbor's garden, got his wife pregnant and then ripped apart his newborn with my bare teeth and now my neighbor just wanders in the communal parking lot. At first I felt like the bad guy but I feel a lot better now, because his wife snarls at him whenever he gets close to the house.

Sometimes life surprises you.

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[-] dragnucs@lemmy.ml 30 points 1 month ago

Yes but humans are not wolfs. Each behave differently.

[-] village604@adultswim.fan 21 points 1 month ago

Primates also have territories, and chimps, one of our closest relatives, have wars over them.

[-] jaggedrobotpubes@lemmy.world 16 points 1 month ago

And they're so much smarter than us, we saw no reason to change such a winning strategy.

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[-] Quill7513@slrpnk.net 12 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

and bonobos, chimpanzee's closest relatives have found evolutionary strategies that work without wars. we have changed our ways of eating and living before, we can again. all we need, as a society, is the imagination to remake ourselves as we have before

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[-] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 29 points 1 month ago

It really bothers me when people use "fear" and "respect" interchangeably. This borders on that.

[-] Alberat@lemmy.world 10 points 1 month ago

wrong, there are no borders... so this cant border on anything

[-] ZoteTheMighty@lemmy.zip 27 points 1 month ago

Am I allowed to immigrate across countries if I engage in a match of melee combat with the leader of said country and perform well? Murder optional.

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[-] chirayu_alias@lemmy.zip 25 points 1 month ago

I love how people call it natural when anyone but a human does something.

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[-] felixwhynot@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month ago

Are we just gonna ignore the parts where they cross over?

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[-] theywilleatthestars@lemmy.world 25 points 1 month ago

Ok, sounds like we don't have to put so much energy into policing them then.

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[-] troglodytis@lemmy.world 23 points 1 month ago

I pee on things when I walk around the farm

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[-] blarghly@lemmy.world 22 points 1 month ago
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[-] orioler25@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago

Is this meant to be serious?

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[-] TheFonz@lemmy.world 21 points 1 month ago

Cool, now overlap with the paths of migratory animals

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[-] F_State@midwest.social 19 points 1 month ago

In that case, is it even a border if people aren't frequently peeing all along it?

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[-] Chee_Koala@lemmy.world 17 points 1 month ago
[-] kryptonianCodeMonkey@lemmy.world 11 points 1 month ago

Wind blows, trees' branches rub together and snap off twigs growing at the ends, creating gaps. They grow again, next windy day, they break again.

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[-] Semi_Hemi_Demigod@lemmy.world 15 points 1 month ago

I only respect borders marked with urine

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[-] Kwakigra@beehaw.org 12 points 1 month ago

This is actually fascinating because it demonstrates a social construct created by animals. Not all animals have the same intelligence, and in nature intelligence is typically found among animals living in groups. It requires intelligence to live and cooperate with others. To me it seems that these animals actually used their intelligence to preserve socially constructed zones for the general good of multiple groups of wolves, likely by staying where the right smell is and not going where the wrong smell is. Hopefully none of the wolves discover the prisoner's dilemma and become a wolf emperor by suddenly invading and enslaving their unprepared neighbors.

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[-] Fortatech@gregtech.eu 10 points 1 month ago

What my first 3d print looked like

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this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2026
745 points (88.8% liked)

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