Hmm, it's a good point! But maybe it's the definition of innate. Maybe a different way of thinking about it, I think a specific fear that's consistently developed later in life within a single species should be considered innate. Like the fear is programmed, but just doesn't neurologically develop immediately upon birth, if that makes sense??Originally Posted by salt
Like that baby bunnies don't have a fear of predators- they don't really have a fear of anything, but the prey behaviors always develop when they're a bit older, even if they've lived with a breeder in a hutch for their whole life. They develop an automatic response of fear of any unknown animals larger than them = predators, even if they've never encountered a predator before. We wouldn't say that prey behavior isn't innate in bunnies, just because they didn't express the behaviors yet as infants/babies.
I mean, still can't exactly compare bunnies to humans, but something to think about!
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