Feelings of Animals?

Funnily enough, a lot of animal psychologists believe that animals are very content to be in zoos. Even in the wild, animals carve territories out for themselves, they don't go exploring new areas just for the fun of it. Animals who escape from zoos often return voluntarily to their pens.

We often associate the wilderness with freedom, but wild animals often get killed by predators or starve to death. Living in the safety of a zoo and being fed every day is a pretty sweet if you think about it.

 

I don't know the range of animal emotions, but I don't think it's on par with humans by a long shot, at least for animals lower than chimps and dolphins.

For example, clearly animals can feel anger and fear. These are basic, almost instinctual emotions.

Can an animal feel jealousy? Perhaps, on a primitive level at least. If one animal has a piece of food, the other animal might want it. But is this jealousy, or just a competitive drive, fueled by hunger?

Can an animal feel complex emotions, like regret or sympathy? Some intelligent animals have been shown to (Monkeys, for example). But can your cat feel sympathy? Probably not.

So I guess it really depends on the animal. I think many of the primates can feel much of what we can. Your more basic animals, like cats, dogs, cows, etc probably feel a more limited range of emotions. Animals at the bottom, like mice, reptiles, fish and so forth probably feel very few, if any emotions, beyond "Fear", simply because fear is the only emotion they need for survival.

But that's just off the top of my head, and only my view. Don't take it as science.

 

Never thought of it that way. thanks for saying that. haha.

 

Here's an article I read on Yahoo yesterday. So I thought this was weird that you posted this, hah

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060808/sc_afp/sciencebritainanimals_060808162259

 

What does this say about us?​

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Try to find the hope in their eyes.​

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I think that whether or not a living creature has "intelligence" is really the wrong place to begin when it comes to mutual respect. Maybe we should begin by thinking that all life is precious and has an equal place in this world outside of the narrow definitions of men. We're a part of this planet, a species among many, let's start fucking acting like it. A zoo is nothing more than human ego dressed up to look like a habitat.

When I used to go to the zoo I felt more sympathy for the idiot humans that put the wildlife in cages than the animals themselves. Humans haven't figure out that everything's connected, and the disrespect we show towards the natural world is the same disrespect we show towards each other. Putting other humans behind bars hasn't solved crime has it? How in the world could we think it's going to preserve the integrity and spirit of any other living thing? The animals in zoos are caught in man's “illusion” of control and what it has created is a pale shadow of what they once were. A homogenized domesticated dependant brainwashed discolored version of what's possible, just like us.

The earth is out of balance because man is out of balance. What we understand about ourselves is commensurate with what we create, and just look at what we've created.

One way or another, the thoughtless disrespect we're showing toward other living creatures is going to end but let's hope it's with realization and not extinction.

“Zoo: An excellent place to study the habits of human beings.”

~Evan Esar~

Stay green.