Indigenous Ability

·         Dog Submissive Signals : To keep peace or to be clear about not issuing challenges to hierarchical authority dogs use a variety of behaviors to “keep safe.” It is wise to pay close attention to this species with which we share a symbiotic relationship as there may be something telling in these universal strategies, one we may be unwisely signaling as humans every single day. ·         How does a submissive dog act? Our short answer is…Like a puppy. ·         Pay close attention here and feel free to substitute human for dog at any point in the mix—the rules of ethology hold. ·         “ Weak adults in many species of animals adopt juvenile postures or perform infantile actions when they are threatened by a dominant individual. If they lack the courage to match threat with counterthreat and risk engaging in a serious dispute...

California courts have been wrangling with a case regarding the legality of police ripping the “patches” off of the jackets of a particular motorcycle “gang.” The “gang” in question prefers to be called The Mongols Motorcycle Club and to keep matters simple I will refer to this group as The Mongols from here on out. We will not delve into the murky legal waters that led to the “powers that be” thinking this strategy a good idea, instead we will address the issue on broader terms that may have actual impact on ourselves—gang affiliated or not. First, let’s get the free speech and property rights arguments out of the way. For a thought experiment, let’s say that you are a Mongol member in good standing. A law-abiding Mongol at that. Anyone denying your right to wear the emblem of your club would be seen as a villain, let alone armed officials who were allowed/instructed to remove your property [the patch] from your person. I daresay you would see such a governmentally ...

If one is serious about conflict and combat studies, it is instructive to open the examination to other species. Such studies allow us to see the myriad similarities in aggression, stand-down tactics, flight behavior, et cetera and allow them to inform our own game. We humans often get a bit “theory-blind” and fail to see the biological laws before our eyes that will corrode misplaced tactical theory like rust through formerly thought impervious iron. Such interspecies observations can make us better at our own game, or at the very least knock us off of our “human high-horse” so to speak. Today, let’s have a look at our feline friends and what they have to teach us about ourselves. Anatomy of a Cat Fight ·         The dominant cat or Aggressor will begin a stretch-legged “tall walking stalk” to appear larger. ·         The Defensive cat will display full flattened ears. This is preparation for ba...

If you’re like me, that word “noyau” may be as unfamiliar to you as it was to me a mere six months ago, but once we understand the word and its wider meaning we begin to recognize its explanatory importance in global and everyday matters, not to mention conflict resolution. Before we get to the definition of the concept let’s first ponder this quote: “ Antagonism must have some value to living things: why otherwise would evolution have tolerated so much of it?”- Robert Ardrey The Territorial Imperative Keep that thought in the back of your mind as it underpins the noyau concept. In 1944 a German ornithologist by the name of Dieter Burckhardt offered up the observation that each species of bird seems to have an “individual distance.” That is, a territorial divide within a larger shared territory. A beach seemingly crowded willy-nilly with swarming emperor penguins is actually adhering to species-specific rules regarding nest position and permitted distance between ind...