How would Aliens care for "endangered" humans?
Sci-fi novel. Book is told from the POV of a alien that works at the sanctuary.
I don't think this is too important, but the aliens are sort of an anthro-snail that lives on the underground and hates sunligh because it burns their skin thing, with no eyes, but with a real good heat vision. SO GOOD they they would be able to look a leaf and see all it's veins, just no color.
So. A while ago, a planet with a Intergalatic PETA of sorts, included humans on their "this species is evolving towards intenligence so must be protected list" (they do not know all the garbage in the ocean, forest clearances, etc, are our fault. They don't think humans are smart enought to do those things, and think a sort of Ophiocordyceps unilateralis took over most humans, that's why they are doing the things they are doing, and will end extincting themselves by ACCIDENT rather than their own wrong doing. That's why they wanna save us). So, aliens spaceships began patroling earth. Now, about 120ish years since the start of the project, humans got used to aliens ships hanging around, and even tried interaction with them. Since the aliens don't consider 21th century society rational yet, due to them being ULTRA devoloped, almost like galactic gods, they interact with people same way we humans would interact with tigers, lions, hippos or other sort of wild animal like that.
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to protect the species from the "fungus" , they write down the humans that have no kids (since those would be infected, like the parents, since the fungus seems to be invisble to the neaked, so are its spores), are fully grown adults, and don't seem to be doing so well here on earth, and takes them to a "wildlife" sanctuary in their home planet. The place is tailored to fit earth's life needs, and it works sort of like a safari zoo. Other aliens can go there for entreteriement and etc to see the humans that seem to be "free" from the fungus, but are never returning earth by whatever. some humans with the "fungus" will captured, "treated", "reabilitated" and sent back to Earth, so these are kept in a different part of the sanctuary.
Acording to laws, they are NOT allowed to breed humans, so all the ones staying on the sanctuary are esterilized.
But...How would they care SO INTENSELY for people and don't figure that they are actualy rational? Like. Their sanctuaries are a good place to be, (since they don't people escaping and causing chaos on their planet), so I bet they would have books, paints, paper, seeds to plant, things to see, do, build, etc (internet?) So. They feed humans, take care of them, even have been studying their life on earth for 120 years. How come they haven't figured humans, altought don't have the same technology, are as rational as them (but do a lot of dumb things..) ? They think of people as "inventive bees with what seems to be a rudimentary form of written language, but nothing that seems to conevey a message yet". I'm also not too sure how the sanctuary would work, like, they sure would see humans doing very rational things, like showing drawings to the aliens to specify what they want to eat or things like that. (the aliens paint allow them see what's print with their heat vision)
Is it possible that the aliens would think humans are just a "mimic" of them and don't pay too much atention to their actions? 197