Big Cats and Maslow's Pyramid

In my last post I proposed a brave theory that Maslow's model on the hierarchy of needs applies to animals as well. There is one species that demonstrates pretty many oddities concerning this question - leopards.

Ernest Hemingway writes in his famous short story, The Snows of Kilimanjaro:

“Kilimanjaro is a snow-covered mountain 19,710 feet high, and is said to be the highest mountain in Africa. Its western summit is called the Masai 'Ngaje Ngai', the House of God. Close to the western summit there is a dried and frozen carcass of a leopard
. No one has explained what the leopard was seeking at that altitude.” 

Hemingway's story is not a legend at all. In 1926 an English mountaineer, Dr Donald Latham, discovered the frozen and mummified corpse of a leopard on the crater rim, at a place that later became known as the Leopard Point. What could bring this creature above 5000 metres (around 16 000 feet) high? How is it possible that this animal literally climbed a mountain, fought altitude sickness, and died near the summit like an unlucky mountaineer? Some propose that the smell of meat carried by some climbers had led it to follow their trail. Others would rather believe in Hemingway's romantic explanation - the leopard was driven there solely by his curiosity.

Leopards' overseas relatives, jaguars also show some fascinating habits. According to one episode of BBC's "Weird Nature", they occasionally chew on the leaves of a certain plant containing stimulant and hallucinogenic substances. They seem to have a fun time hunting and playing around after the plant would "kick in". They also enjoy lying down under the woods and take pleasure in gazing at the canopy.

I do not intend to present these stories as something mystical at all. However, it is interesting that animals tend to pursue pleasurable or even self-realizing activities above their basic physiological and security needs which make up the basic layers of Maslow's pyramid.

As an epilogue I suggest you to watch this heartwarming video about a female leopard who nearly adopts a monkey cub.