Animal intelligence and emotions

[Guest guest]

Man And Other Animals

Our Fellow Creatures Have Feelings - So

We Should Give Them Rights Too

By Jeremy Rifkin

The Guardian - UK

8-15-03

 

While much of the talk in big science this past year has centred on new

breakthroughs in biotechnology, nanotechnology, computers and more

esoteric

questions such as the age of our universe, a quieter story has been

unfolding behind

the scenes in laboratories around the world - one whose impact on human

perception and our understanding of the world is likely to be even more

profound.

And, strangely, the companies sponsoring the research are McDonald's,

Burger

King, KFC and other fast food purveyors. Pressured by animal rights

activists

and by growing public support for the humane treatment of animals, these

companies have financed research into, among other things, the emotional,

mental and

behavioural states of our fellow creatures. What the researchers are

finding is unsettling. It appears that many of our fellow creatures are

more like us

than we had ever imagined. They feel pain, suffer, experience stress,

affection, excitement - and even love. Studies on pigs' social

behaviour at Purdue

University in the US, for example, have found that they crave affection

and are

easily depressed if isolated or denied playtime with each other. The lack

of mental and physical stimuli can result in deterioration of health and

increased

incidence of diseases. The EU has taken such studies to heart and has

outlawed the use of isolating pig stalls by 2012, and mandated their

replacement with

open-air stalls. In Germany, the government is encouraging pig farmers to

 

give each pig 20 seconds of human contact every day and to provide them

with two

or three toys to prevent them fighting. The pig study only scratches

the

surface of what is going on in the field of research into animal emotions

and

cognitive abilities. Researchers were stunned recently by the publication

of an

article in the prestigious journal Science reporting on the conceptual

abilities of New Caledonian crows. In controlled experiments, scientists

at Oxford

University reported that two birds named Betty and Abel were given a

choice

between using two tools, one a straight wire, the other a hooked wire, to

snag a

piece of meat from inside a tube. Both chose the hooked wire. But then,

unexpectedly, Abel, the more dominant male, stole Betty's hook, leaving

her only with

a straight wire. Unphased, Betty used her beak to wedge the wire in a

crack

and then bent it with her beak to produce a hook, like the one stolen

from her.

She then snagged the food from inside the tube. Researchers repeated the

experiment 10 more times giving her straight wires, and she fashioned a

hook out of

the wire nine times, demonstrating a sophisticated ability to create

tools.

Then there is the story of Alex the African grey parrot, who was able to

master tasks previously thought to be the preserve of human beings. Alex

can

identify more than 40 objects and seven colours, and can add and separate

objects

into categories. Equally impressive is Koko, a gorilla who was taught

sign language, has mastered more than 1,000 signs and understands several

thousand

English words. On human IQ tests, she scores between 70 and 95, putting

her in

the slow learner - but not retarded - category. Tool-making and

developing

language skills are just two of the many attributes we thought were

exclusive to

our species. Self-awareness is another. Philosophers and animal

behaviourists

have long argued that other animals are not capable of self-awareness

because

they lack a sense of individualism. Not so, according to a spate of new

studies. At the Washington National Zoo, orangutans given mirrors explore

parts of

their bodies they can't see otherwise, showing a sense of self. An

orangutan

named Chantek at the Atlanta Zoo used a mirror to groom his teeth and

adjust

his sunglasses, says his trainer. When it comes to the ultimate test of

what

distinguishes humans from the other creatures, scientists have long

believed

that mourning for the dead represents the real divide. Other animals have

no

sense of their mortality and are unable to comprehend the concept of

their own

death. But animals, it appears, experience grief. Elephants will often

stand

next to their dead kin for days, in silence, occasionally touching their

bodies

with their trunks. Kenyan biologist Joyce Poole, who has studied African

elephants for 25 years, says that elephant behaviour towards their dead

" leaves me

with little doubt that they experience deep emotion and have some

understanding

of death. " We also know that virtually all animals play, especially

when

young. Anyone who has ever observed the antics of puppies, kittens or

bear cubs

cannot help but notice the similarities in the way they play and our own

children. Recent studies in the brain chemistry of rats show that when

they play,

their brains release large amounts of dopamine, a neurochemical

associated with

pleasure and excitement in human beings. Noting the striking

similarities

in brain anatomy and chemistry of humans and other animals, Steven Siviy,

a

behavioural scientist at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, asks a

question

increasingly on the minds of other researchers: " If you believe in

evolution by

natural selection, how can you believe that feelings suddenly appeared,

out of

the blue, with human beings? " The new findings of researchers are a far

cry

from the conceptions espoused by orthodox science. Until very recently,

scientists were still advancing the idea that most creatures behaved by

sheer

instinct, and that what appeared to be learned behaviour was merely

genetically wired

activity. Now we know that geese have to teach their goslings their

migration

routes. In fact, we are finding out that learning is passed on from

parent to

offspring far more often than not and that most animals engage in learned

 

experience brought on by continued experimentation and trial-and-error

problem-solving. So what does all of this portend for the way we treat

our fellow

creatures? What about the thousands of animals subjected each year to

painful

laboratory experiments? Or the millions of domestic animals raised under

inhumane

conditions and destined for slaughter and human consumption. Should we

ban

leg-hold traps and discourage the sale and purchase of fur coats? And

what about

killing animals for sport? Fox hunting in England, bull-fighting in

Spain,

cock-fighting in Mexico? What about entertainment? Should lions be caged

in zoos,

should elephants be made to perform in circuses? These questions are

beginning to be raised in courtrooms and in legislation around the world.

Today,

Harvard and 25 other law schools in the US have introduced law courses on

animal

rights, and an increasing number of cases representing the rights of

animals are entering the court system. Germany recently became the first

government in

the world to guarantee animal rights in its constitution. The human

journey

is, at its core, about the extension of empathy to broader and more

inclusive

domains. At first, the empathy extended only to kin and tribe. Eventually

it

was extended to people of like-minded values - a common religion,

nationality

or ideology. In the 19th century, the first humane societies were

established,

extending the empathy to include our fellow creatures. Today, millions of

 

people, under the banner of the animal rights movement, are continuing to

deepen

and to expand human concern for, and empathy toward, our fellow

creatures.

The current studies into animals' emotions, cognition and behaviour open

up a

new phase in the human journey, allowing us to both expand and deepen our

 

empathy - this time, to include the broader community of creatures who

live

alongside us. - Jeremy Rifkin is the author of Beyond Beef: The Rise

and Fall of the

Cattle Culture (Plume, 1992), and The Biotech Century (Victor Gollancz,

1998). He is also the president of the Foundation on Economic Trends in

Washington

DC Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2003

http://www.guardian.co.uk/animalrights/story/0,11917,1020066,00.html

 

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