Xiong, an expert on animal behaviour, said that with his years of observation of animals, he found that human beings still inherited some animal traits or were influenced by our feathered and hairy friends.

Xiong said that among birds, the female usually chose their mates by one of the following four standards: appearance, singing ability, dancing skills and nest construction.

Similarly, the concept of "men dang hu hui", which means being well matched in social and economic status for marriage, still prevails in modern society though it seems to be a left-over from feudalism.

When a woman looks for the right man to marry, she knows exactly the difference between who is good for romance and who is good as a bread-winner.

A good-looking and versatile guy who is energetic, sportive, humorous and has money, or at least is capable of making money, and who has an apartment, or at least the potential to afford one, will be wooed most.

However, God plays games when making human beings and few men are that perfect.

So the woman, however picky she may be, will focus on more practical aspects if there is not so much room left for her to choose.

Human beings are surely more flexible than birds and in this diversified and open world, people can also stay single as long as they can and homosexuals are more acceptable because it is believed that the same sex understands more about them than the heterosexual.

Another interesting thing Xiong told me is that the family of quadrumana, of monkeys for example, is strictly hierarchized. Any violation is forbidden and punished severely if the hierarchy has the capability to defend its reign.

In a monkey family, usually only the king has the right to have sex with the females. Other adult males have to be very obedient to the king if they do not want to be exiled but that does not mean they will not sneak in and seduce females behind the king's back.

A rebellious male will challenge the king from beating a baby which is under the protection of the king, to beating the baby of a favorite concubine of the king. The male will fight with the concubine until he is able to grab food away from the king himself.

However the evolutionary process goes, it does us humans good to ponder on such similarities.

It is worthwhile to get close to animals and human beings should respect nature and animals more for they also are part of nature although doomed to remain inferior to human beings in terms of intelligence.

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