31 July 2013
Do Animals Really Have Emotions? Animal emotion is a difficult and controversial subject. Scientific research is confirming what humans intuitively know: that animals have feelings and able to experience diverse types of emotions. Skeptics believe there are no possible ways animals can have emotions. They refuse the idea animals experience happiness or any other type of emotions as anthropomorphism; which occurs when humans project their own characteristics or behaviors to animals. Josh Clark offers an example of this phenomenon: the story of Hachiko, a dog that lived in Japan. Every day, this dog and his owner went to the train station. The dog was there every afternoon waiting for his owner to come back, but when his
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Eleonor was bitten by a snake, this prevent he from walking from walking and moving at the same pace of the rest of the herd. When she fell, another matriarch elephant; from a different family tried to lift her several times, this elephant looked distraught, anxious, and worried about Eleonor. Unfortunately, when her attempts to save Eleonor failed, she left and Eleonor died as a consequence of the venomous bite. The following day, Eleonor’s family as well as other elephants from different families, visited the place where she died. Her family surprisingly continued to visit her carcass often (Bhalla). Journalist Roger Highfield, points out the investigations from a group of researchers from Oxford University, who have been recording the movements of elephants in Kenya with the help from a radio tracking system placed throughout the area. Researchers conclude that elephants demonstrate a special interest in the dead of their own specie, and that elephants are capable of grieving and showing emotions such as compassion.
Recent discoveries have demonstrated that mammals have the same structure of the nervous system and neurochemical composition that are important for feelings. As Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado Marc Bekoff explains, “Neuroscience shows that humans are not the sole occupants of the emotional arena. Dogs and many other animals can
Not surprisingly, elephants are known for being more emotional and empathetic animals than the rest. According the three articles, “Elephants Can Lend a Helping Trunk”, “Elephants Know When They Need a Helping Trunk in a Cooperative Task”, and “Elephants Console Each Other” elephants understand when they need each other’s assistance. All two authors describe the studies of elephant behavior differently, but with a similar purpose.
Every hunter proceeded with the utmost caution. When an elephant was spotted, everyone stayed back as one of the lead hunters, Arumba, stepped up to take aim at the elephant. The first time, he was unsuccessful because the elephant galloped away right before he had a chance to strike, it took a few more hours to re-track the creature. When it was spotted again Arumba crept up with great stealth and ease and struck the elephant with the spear. Arumba's spear entered deep into the side of it's target. The elephant let out a screech of pain and galloped off again. The Mbuti hunters then followed the blood trail of the wounded elephant and waited for it to die. They followed this particular elephant for approximately two hours before it stopped running. Word was sent back to camp that an elephant was wounded and that they should be ready to move very soon. Later, the elephant was found again, swaying on it's feet fighting to stay alive. One of the hunters through a stick and hit the elephant in the head, it simply let out a yell, but did not move. "This animal is dead," said one of the hunters. They soon approached it and jabbed it lightly with the spear once more, it didn't even budge.
Many things do have feelings when you think they don't have feelings. Many things are not exactly what it seems. Animals have many similarities and differences to humans. Starting with the story the pod.
emotions in a ‘man-made’ species is not far off in a non-organic life-form, but the question with
Marriage is the commitment between a person and someone they wish and want to be with. Many couples are prevented from being able to make that commitment. Same-sex marriage is something that is being brought up in countless ways recently in today's society. A term that is tied to same-sex marriage is LGBTQ which stands for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning. It was created as an abbreviation to the label “gay community’’ to create a more intimate diverse group (About the LGBTQ Community and Allies). Difference is something many do not know how to comprehend and wrap their heads around. It is challenging and troubling for many to simply accept one thing that is different. in The play, The Crucible, by Arthur Miller, is based around the Salem Witch
As of this month, the Trump Administration has announced removal of the DACA program and the Dreamers, who are immigrants currently participating in this program. However, after this notice was made, there are different sides on whether this decision will improve or damage America’s future. Determining whether DACA is beneficial or harmful to our country is important because this can create more awareness of the impacts that affect huge components of America, especially our country’s economy. If America kept the DACA program, this can be beneficial in many ways towards the future of our economy.
If you’re not paying attention, the mind can be a tricky labyrinth. The less you know about it, the more inexplicable and frightening it becomes. For example, why do seemingly benign elephants wreak havoc upon villages? In “An Elephant Crackup,” Charles Siebert explores the aberrant nature of these elephants and correlates them to their traumatizing upbringing, deprived of community and kinship. The biochemistry of the human mind, analyzed in “Love2.0” by Barbara Frederickson, serves as a worthy addendum to Siebert’s conjecture. “Love2.0” explains that the brain, hormones, and nerves work in unison to build emotional fortitude, stimulate oneself, and express positivity resonance. Siebert’s ideas of elephant culture and trans-species psyche can put Frederickson’s theory of emotions into practice. The absence of certain hormones within elephants, provided their fragmented community, can explain their volatile outbreaks. Alternatively, the reinstitution of human parental roles into elephant culture can help reconstruct their broken emotional states of elephants and rebuild their resilience; this healing process can also extend to humans.
Contrary to what we might think, animals share similar characteristics with us in terms of their physical and psychological states. Jeremy Rifkin, author of twenty books on the impact of scientific and technological changes on the society and the environment, writes in his op-ed piece “A Change of Heart about Animals,” research which supports animals have behavioral, mental, and emotional states. Koko, a gorilla, was taught how to use sign language and has mastered more than 1,000 signs and can understand several thousand English words. To express their sense of individuality, orangutans use mirrors to explore parts of their bodies they can 't otherwise see. A common misconception is animals can 't feel anything, meaning they don’t understand suffering. However, elephants appear to experience grief by mourning for the dead and standing next to their dead kin for days (Rifkin). Also according to Victoria Braithwaite, a Professor of Fisheries and Biology interested in animal cognition, studies in her article "Hooked on a Myth" suggests nociceptors, specialized nerve endings that alert creatures to feel pain, are found in the mouths of fish. This study proves animals have the ability to experience pain. Rifkin’s
Elephant has long been known as one of man’s best friends, who have peacefully coexisted along with humanity for thousands of years. However, the relationship between the two is no longer in the equilibrium state. In “An Elephant Crackup?”, Charles Siebert discusses the downfall of the elephants. He gives a depiction of the recent raging and violent acts of the elephants among themselves and toward other species, including humans, and presents an educated and almost unexpected explanation to their behaviors. He says elephants are just like us; they have feelings and now are “suffering from a form of chronic stress, a kind of species-wide trauma”(Siebert 354). The similarity that should be something fascinating is now slowly turning them into the immensely savage beasts before wiping them out of existence. Even when the appearance of the words “stress” and “trauma” looks like a serious case of “anthropocentric conjecture”, it provides a totally new vision, a fresh way of looking at the boiling issue of the disappearance and sadistic acts of elephants specifically and wild animals at large. With the help of two powerful essays: “Great to Watch” by Maggie Nelson and “The Power of Context” of Malcolm Gladwell, the issue of the unusual behaviors of the elephants is thoroughly illuminated and its solution no longer seems to be out of human’s reach.
The official title of the world’s largest land dwelling animal belongs to the elephant, more specifically, the African elephant. Elephants also are some of the most deadly animals, which therefore increase the danger of human and elephant interactions. The more human interactions occur, the more deaths result, whether it is the elephant or the human who dies. These animals, surprisingly, are socially apt; their trunk is used for more than just eating and drinking- it is used for socializing. They are complex animals who live in large familial herds-females stay with their family throughout their entire lives while males only stay for approximately fifteen years (Elephant Protection, 1). Elephants possess a great memory and only forget what they learn occasionally and rarely, giving way to the “an elephant never forgets” saying (Maloiy, 178c). Despite how many people use the beloved saying, elephants may not be around much longer due to the shortened life span and increased mortality rates. Due to their incisor teeth, tusks, being extremely expensive and profitable, they are being murdered for the wealth they carry. This, coupled with the life span shortening because of malicious treatments and brutal practices reduces the life span of the African elephant from 56 to 16 years and the Asian elephant from 42 to 19 years (Elephant Protection, 1). According to what the statistics show, elephants may be following their ancestors to their death. Of the group of mammals called
Since we cannot communicate in an effective way to these animals, some people find it hard to believe that animals really do experience subjectivity. However, it seems that every person can understand that animals such as dogs, cats, and primates seek pleasure and avoid pain. These two ideas are contradictions of each other because if an animal seeks to enhance its subjective experience, it must follow that they do have a similar subjective experience as humans. Not surprisingly, just like the mentally retarded children that were previously mentioned, even if these animals cannot solve complex math problems, read or write, or compose music that these animals are still subjects of life. It follows that if these animals are subjects of life that they should also fall into the domain of equality of
Do animals feel joy, love, fear, anguish or despair? What ere emotions, and perhaps more importantly, how do scientists prove animals are capable of emotion? Sea lion mothers have often been seen wailing painfully and squealing eerily as they watch their babies being eaten by killer whales. Buffaloes have also been observed sliding playfully across ice, excitedly screaming “Gwaaa.” Emotions are defined broadly as psychological phenomena that help in behavioral management and control. This is a challenging question to researchers who are trying to determine the answer to this question. Through current research by close observation combined with neurobiological research, evidence that animals exhibit fear, joy
First, we must determine what emotions are. Are they different for every being, or felt in the same way? Merriam-Webster defines emotion as “a conscious mental reaction (as anger or fear) subjectively experienced as strong feeling usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body.” As award-winning scientist Mark Bekoff states in his book The Emotional Lives of Animals, emotions are psychological phenomena that help in behavioral management and control (6). Another word that I will use from this point on to describe the event of cognitive feelings and emotions in animals is sentience. Again Merriam-Webster states that sentience is “the capacity to feel, perceive, or experience subjectively.”
Tony Nicklson, a father of two, starves himself to death after the Supreme Court rejects his request to “die with dignity” with the help of medical professionals. A graduate student faces ten years in jail for shooting his dying brother after the court refused his plea to die. A retired magistrate, suffering from multiple sclerosis, refuses to take any medication or palliatives to help the fight to change the law on physician assisted dying. These are some of the recent headlines telling stories of people fighting to legalize physician aid in dying (PAD). Currently, PAD is illegal in most states except for Oregon, Washington, Montana and Vermont. I believe that PAD is an essential constitutional right, and should be legalized in all
ountid=13939. It is important to know and keep in mind that all animals have feelings