File :-(, x, )
Anonymous
What is the story behind this pic? Do pandas really need consoling by physical contact like humans do?
This pic is so heartbreaking ;_;
>> Anonymous
>>244973

you're an idiot. there is no story. they don't need consoling by physical contact. It isn't heartbreaking if there is no story. you're a furfag.
>> Anonymous
>>244976
>It isn't heartbreaking if there is no story
Or I can, you know, just look at it.
>> Anonymous
I thought pandas were actually wicked aggressive/territorial/dangerous, this must be a really tame young one
>> Anonymous
>>244976
wow, kindly fuck off.

and OP, I personally dont think heartbreaking is the right term, as it really does stem from the previous events, it MAY be heartbreaking, I just think its incredibly cute :D
>> Anonymous
>>244980
I dunno. To me the panda appears really vulnerable and that breaks my heart. That's why I used that word.
Semantics aside, obviously not everyone will get that from the pic.
>> Anonymous
>>244983
true that.
>> Anonymous
>>244983
You're projecting your feelings unto the panda, it's normal. The guy gives the impression of being sad and he's hugging the panda so it's easy to say that the panda is also depressed.
To me it just looks playful, maybe a little confused. And that open mouth makes it look like its downright smilling.
>> Anonymous
>>244997
Agreed. If I had to guess, the panda was playing with the guy, not seeking consolation.
>> Anonymous
>>244980
>>244978

wow you people are fucking pathetically stupid. Animals aren't people.
>> Anonymous
He's strangling the poor Panda
>> Anonymous
It is obviously they are cuddling after sex.
>> Anonymous
>>245000
ANIMALS DON'T HAVE FEELINGS AMIRITE???
>> Anonymous
>>245014
Yes, you are - animals are too stupid to have feelings. Your dog/cat loves you? No. S/He just wants the food you provide.
>> Anonymous
>>245014

lol yes you are, idiot.
>> Anonymous
>>245017
>>245019
You might want to do some research on the broad spectrum of feelings that (for example ) Elephants and Great Apes express.
Actually never mind, just kill yourself.
>> Anonymous
>>245037

panda does not equal great ape or elephant.
>> Anonymous
YIFFYIFFYIFFYIFFYIFFYIFFYIFFYIFFYIFFYIFF

obviously.
>> Anonymous
>>245053
I was pointing out those two obvious examples because even tards like you should be able to find something about them on the webbz.
But you know, if you insist on staying uneducated for the sake of a discussion on an anonymous image board - don't let me stand in your way.
>> Anonymous
>>245014
No way of knowing. Logic says yes.
>> Anonymous
stains on his pants, what is?
>> Anonymous
>>245059

Whales/Dolphins
Elephants
Great Apes

That's it. Those are the only animals which show any higher brain functions/intelligence apart from humans.

MOST, 99.999999999999999999% of animals do not have emotions or any kind of intelligence. They are completely instinct driven.

It's hard for some humans, who tend too anthropomorphicize and project, too understand this.
>> Anonymous
>>245063

Oh and before anyone mentions Macaws/Parrots, they do not understand what they are saying. They can generally relate words too objects sometimes, but that's it. They don't understand full sentences. They are just mimicking.
>> Anonymous
>>245063
>>245064

Except Grey Parrots can be trained to have the vocabulary command of a 4 year old, and New Caledonian crows can improvise, manipulate, and pass on new tools.
>> Anonymous
>>245063
emotions are driven by hormons

every mamal got hormons --> they got emotions

im sure u never had a dog, cause if you had one you would agree with me that they sure can be happy and sad...
>> Anonymous
>>245063
>>They are completely instinct driven

So in you opinion 4 species are able to express feelings, then there is a sharp barrier and suddenly every animal below this barrier is instinct driven and unable to feel boredom, envy or joy? I don't know...
I've heard many stories of animals (For example dogs) which died, shortly after its mate died, just because they...mourned? Well whatever you want to call it.
>> Anonymous
>>245068

Seagulls will fly around their mate when it dies for several days, possibly dying themselves.

This isn't emotion. It's instinct. They rely on their mate.
>> Anonymous
>>245066

Ok, shit, I admit I was wrong. Corvidae are also intelligent.
>> Anonymous
>>245063

This man is angry and skeptical and needs laid.

Even humans are "robots" in a sense - animals are just driven differently for survival. They can feel emotions, but because they aren't able to fathom/dwell on them, their emotions are rarely expressed the same. Anthropomorphizing -is- a huge problem. But it's obvious when an elephant is standing at the corpse of his dead mother that he knows something "isn't quite right," and is in a sense mourning.
>> Anonymous
>>245075

Yes, that is why I mentioned elephants. Burials, painting, playing, social structure etc.
>> Anonymous
>>245063
GTFO troll.
>> Anonymous
I dunno wtf either but I wanna hug a panda too!!! D:
>> Anonymous
>>244997
Yes. That is why I used the word "appears".
>> Anonymous
I can't believe most of you think that animals are incapable of having emotions. I realize they may not be THE SAME emotions as we experience, but without them they simply couldn't function.
Also, emotions are not complex brain processes but are actually some of the simpler ones. That is why they do not originate in the cerebral cortex, the most highly developed area of the brain, but in some of the most primitive areas which are part of the limbic system.
>> Anonymous
It looks to me like they're playing and he's hugging the panda because, well, wouldn't you?

And where in the brain are people thinking emotions come from? They're pretty damn basic.

As I understand it, emotions are pretty damn instinctual too. Are you saying you have complete control over what you feel at any given time? You can control what you do in response to the emotion, but can't not feel it.

A dog and human can both feel anger. The dog is always going to bite and snarl, the human can control themselves and walk away.
>> Anonymous
>>245176

That's the general idea. I watched a documentary about apes spearing smaller animals for food. It was very disturbing. The narrator basically said that the bonobo and chimp's inability to control their emotions is what prevents them from evolving into something more human.
>> Anonymous
>>245176
some females can't overcome their emotions by thoughts... so do some men either... we are all slaves to our emotions, which are controlled by the hormons our body produces in certain situations... the only difference is that we can tell (at least for some situations and emotions) why it appears and what it is that is causing the feeling.
Controlling it is impossible as long you got a functionary nerve system.
>> Anonymous
>>245370

The Frontal Lobe says hi.
>> Anonymous
ITT: ANIMULS ARE PEEPUL BAWWWWW GTFO FOR SAYING OTHERWISE COZ I R DUMB AMERICAN WHO CLINGS TO FAIRYTALES AND DISNEE MOOVIES
>> Anonymous
>>245170

>I realize they may not be THE SAME emotions as we experience, but without them they simply couldn't function

no shit, that's the whole point, the OP is either blindly sentimental or a 13 year old girl
>> Anonymous
Of course animals have emotions. To use a simple example, rather than all this hormones, brains, etc mumbo jumbo: my own dog will miss the shit out of me (and other members of my family) if I'm away for too long (even like one night), and I don't walk her or feed her or anything unless no one else is around to do it, I just play with her, so I'm hardly her carer. She has no reason to miss me other than emotional attachment.

Also, why would animals play together at all if they don't have emotions?
>> Anonymous
I think OP's picture mainly looks sad because the guy looks sad, and because of that you assume he must be comforting the panda or the panda is comforting him over something.
But odds are they're really just playing or being affectionate and the guy just looks sad because we can't see his face properly.
>> Anonymous
>Also, why would animals play together at all if they don't have emotions?

animals play instinctively to prepare themselves for adult life. All play activities can be seen as analogies for activities they undertake later in their lives. Moron.
>> Anonymous
>>245413

Yeah, yeah, okay, you got me there (even though it's obvious they have fun doing it).
Still, how about explaining why so called emotionless animals miss their owners, or love meeting other people/dogs, comfort each other when they're injured, or comfort their owners when they're upset, etc etc etc.
Heck, I've even known dogs who get embarrassed about things. You're an utter moron if you think they don't have emotions.
>> Anonymous
Yes, animals have emotions. Obviously they will be different from ours. Given that no one here has been an animal, no one can say what they are like exactly.
>> Anonymous
One could argue that the lower animals (not primates, elephants, etc) are even more emotionally driven than we are. Most of the stuff mentioned as evidence for emotion, like elephants mourning dead family members, is really evidence of higher cognitive facilities.

Animals like dogs (especially since they're social) don't have these thoughts to get in the way; while still having some learning ability, they mostly operate on instinct and simple feelings. Fear, happiness, jealousy, rage, the pleasure of bonding with a pack-mate and re-enforcing social ties: these are all emotions that require little intelligence. I'd be surprised if animals DIDN'T feel these things, but you can't confuse that with animal emotions resulting from understanding a situation.
>> Anonymous
>>245414

>Still, how about explaining why so called emotionless animals miss their owners, or love meeting other people/dogs, comfort each other when they're injured, or comfort their owners when they're upset

why don't YOU explain why you think that these actions are displays of emotion, and why you think that an animal would display emotion in exactly the same way a human would.
>> Anonymous
ITT: ANIMULS ARE PEEPUL BAWWWWW GTFO FOR SAYING OTHERWISE COZ I R DUMB AMERICAN WHO CLINGS TO FAIRYTALES AND DISNEE MOOVIES
ITT: ANIMULS ARE PEEPUL BAWWWWW GTFO FOR SAYING OTHERWISE COZ I R DUMB AMERICAN WHO CLINGS TO FAIRYTALES AND DISNEE MOOVIES
ITT: ANIMULS ARE PEEPUL BAWWWWW GTFO FOR SAYING OTHERWISE COZ I R DUMB AMERICAN WHO CLINGS TO FAIRYTALES AND DISNEE MOOVIES
>> Anonymous
ITT: Trolling
>> Anonymous
>>245067
Pandas are smarter than this poster.

OP, it's called "foreplay."
>> Anonymous
>>245429
>>hay guises humans are vastly different from any other animals and you won't find any parallels to human morphology/behavior in other animals. Also: Creationism.
>> Anonymous
I personally don't think it's a case of how much an animal has emotion or capacity to control it, but rather the animal's intelligence. I'd say animals feel emotions as strongly as humans do, and probably with varying degrees of complexity.

For example, if you take baby chicks away from the mother hen, the mother hen will mope for about a week or so. However, if you take away all but one, the mother hen will happily cluck about. Does that mean that the mother hen only feels sadness when all the chicks are gone? No, it just means chickens can't count.

A lot of what we call "emotion" is just expressing certain social cues. For example, a girl suffering a breakup will cry a lot.
A duck that lost its mate can't cry in the human sense. Most likely, the duck shows other signs of grieving that could be seen by other ducks. On the other hand, would a tiger show signs of grief? Probably not, since tigers are solitary creatures and don't need to express grief to other tigers.
I have to emphasise that this doesn't mean we should treat animals like they're humans: they can't socially interact like a human with the same cues and signals.
If you try to comfort a puppy by patting and cooing at it during a thunderstorm, the puppy won't realise the owner's trying to comfort it: it will think it's being praised for showing fear of the thunderstorm.

Which comes to the final issue: does OP pic show a need for the panda to be comforted in general, and is the need satisfied by hugs, a human interaction used to provide comfort? It's probably a panda used to human contact. The panda might not think of the hug as comfortable, or even consoling, but probably knows enough that it's something you do to gain praise or make humans happy.
>> Anonymous
>>245435

nice strawman
>> Anonymous
>>245447
only to those who aren't able to abstract at all
>> Anonymous
>>245463

that didn't make any sense at all.
>> Anonymous
>>245465
only to those who can't comprehend at all
>> Anonymous
>>245466

facepalm.jpg
>> Anonymous
>>245469
clever_rebuttal.txt
>> Anonymous
>>245470

oxymoron
>> Anonymous
>>245472
>>oxymoron
>>moron
>> Anonymous
>>245407
Uh.. I AM the OP you moron.
To say that animal emotions "don't count" somehow because they're instinctual is to assume that human emotions ARE NOT instinctual, which simply isn't true.
>> Anonymous
it's BITING HIS ARM you fucking cockeye
>> Anonymous
>hay guises humans are vastly different from any other animals and you won't find any parallels to human morphology/behavior in other animals. Also: Creationism.

First, I do not put stock in any Creationist myths. I'm firmly grounded in reality.

Humans HAVE evolved too be extremely unique compared to other animals. Now, there are other sentient animals like Corvids, Elephants etc. but your dog is not a sentient being.

>my own dog will miss the shit out of me (and other members of my family) if I'm away for too long

You're projecting. Your dog does not miss you. Dogs don't miss people. YOU miss your dog. Your dog does not miss you.
>> Anonymous
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>>245577
>In 1924, Hachik? was brought to Tokyo by his owner, Hidesamur? Ueno, a professor in the agriculture department at the University of Tokyo. During his owner's life, Hachik? saw him off from the front door and greeted him at the end of the day at the nearby Shibuya Station. Even after Ueno's death in May 1925, Hachik? returned every day to the station to wait for him. Hachik?'s devotion to his lost master moved those around him, who nicknamed him "faithful dog". Others at the station initially thought it was waiting for something else or roaming around but later realized it was waiting for its dead owner. So the vendors there used to give some bits of food and water. Others doubted it and said the dog might have come because of the food the vendors gave for it. But it appeared only in the evening time, precisely when the train was due at the station.

Remember kids, it's all instinct, imprinting and self-preservation.
>> Anonymous
>>245579

They should rename him too Pavlov's Dog. It'd be more appropriate.
>> Barksalot !!bUy38Am5hmk
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It's hard for me to believe there are still crusty old men browsing this place. The notion that animals act only, or mostly on instinct has been put to sleep long ago.
Many animals accused of living on instinct are even capable of showing true compassion. The ability to show compassion is also one of the very things that helped us evolve from the shit-throwing apes we once were.
The panda/human pic can mean anything and is open to interpretation, so it's pointless to use it as any kind of proof.
>> Anonymous
>>245577
>>your dog is not a sentient being.
>>not a sentient being.
>>sentient


Main Entry:
sen·tient
Pronunciation:
\?sen(t)-sh(?-)?nt, ?sen-t?-?nt\
Function:
adjective
Etymology:
Latin sentient-, sentiens, present participle of sentire to perceive, feel
Date:
1632

1 : responsive to or conscious of sense impressions <sentient beings>
2 : aware
3 : finely sensitive in perception or feeling
>> Anonymous
>>245584
Well thanks for your opinion, proof would have been more convincing but since not even biologists can agree on that topic it's all more or less speculation.
Also: to/too.
>> Anonymous
>>245594

Alright fine, I meant self-aware.
>> Anonymous
>>244976

fuck off ktxbai
>> Anonymous
>>245866

>ktxbai

You're on 4chan, not Gaia or some fur fetish site. You get out.
>> Anonymous
Lol all you faggots saying that "LOL UR DUM COZ U ARE OLD FASHUND" have completely missed the point. The point is that the OP is a fucking faggot, trying to garner attention like a 13 year old girl by pretending that a panda needs hugs and attention like a puppy or teddy bear.
>> Anonymous
>>245878
You've been proved an idiot and now you're bitter. Go pick dingleberries or something if you've got nothing better to do.
>> Anonymous
>>245577
>your dog is not a sentient being.

>You're projecting. Your dog does not miss you.

>YOUR DOG IS NOT A SENTIENT BEING.

How fucking stupid are you?
>> Anonymous
I suppose you think that a dog is like a machine and that it doesn't feel pain when it is hit and it scowls like Descartes did.
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
>>245579
>> Anonymous
D'AWWW
>> Anonymous
>>245883

Of course they feel pain, pain is an adaptation too help avoid death.

>>245882

Smarter than you apparently.

>>245881

>You've been proved an idiot

Nice one, Einstein. Although I don't think>>245878has posted in this thread before, which would making it rather difficult for him too already be "proved" an idiot.
>> Anonymous
>>245886

Oops: "which would make* it rather..."
>> Anonymous
>>245886
And how would you know that?
How is it that he uses the same rhetoric and sentence structure as a certain SOMEONE who HAS posted several times before?

Also,
>too
>> Anonymous
Wait so dogs aren't sentient? They don't react to the world around them at all? oh wow
the level of sentience someone has can vary. Animals are generally not as sentient as humans. Sentience depends on their species' lifestyle - the more you have to interact with others to survive, the more sentient you are as a species. Humans, proven inferior in all but our brain power, are of course the most sentient as far as we know.
You can see this behaviour in pack animals (such as wolves, dolphins or, hey, dogs) and compare them with non-pack animals, such as snakes. The more you need others to survive, the more you can develop "love" - in short, yes, dogs are very well able to feel love, (albeit on a slightly different level than us) precisely due to the fact that they are pack animals.


tldr fuck you
>> Anonymous
>>245881

Sup OP, how have you "proved" me an idiot? Enjoy your childish sentimentalities btw, when you go and hug a wild animal and it mauls you. DAWWWW LUKEE DAR IT SHO CUTE AND FRUFFY IT MUSHT HAVE FEELINGS LIEK MEEEEEEEE
>> Anonymous
>>245892

sentient means self aware, and a dog doesn't recognise itself in a mirror, meaning it isn't self aware.
>> Anonymous
>>245895
No, dumbass, "Sentience refers to possession of sensory organs, the ability to feel or perceive, not necessarily including the faculty of self-awareness. The possession of sapience is not a necessity". lrn2english
>> Anonymous
>>245897

nope.
>> Anonymous
>>245897

Sentience is the ability to feel or perceive subjectively. I wouldn't describe dogs as being able to perceive their surroundings subjectively. [spoiler]furfag[/spoiler]
>> Anonymous
>>245897
sounds like a PETA friendly definition.

Main Entry: sen·tient
Pronunciation: \?sen(t)-sh(?-)?nt, ?sen-t?-?nt\
Function: adjective
Etymology: Latin sentient-, sentiens, present participle of sentire to perceive, feel
Date: 1632
1 : responsive to or conscious of sense impressions <sentient beings>
2 : aware
3 : finely sensitive in perception or feeling
>> Anonymous
GEE IT SURE IS PETA AROUND HERE
>> Anonymous
>>245898
Yep.

Also fuck the PETA
>> Anonymous
>>245902

see

>>245900
>>245899
>> Anonymous
>>245893
Pandas aren't aggressive. Just because they're all bears doesn't mean they're all alike.
>> Anonymous
>>245899
>>245898
You lost that argument. Get over it you stupid fuck.
>> Anonymous
>responsive to or conscious of sense impressions
How is this NOT what a dog is? WTF is wrong with you?
No, I don't care. Just GTFO.
>> Anonymous
>>245895
The problem with the mirror test is that many animals do not rely on their sight the same way humans do.
>> Anonymous
>>245905
Lean up against a panda cage sometime, see what happens.
>> Anonymous
my poor /an/, you're so easily trolled =(
>> Anonymous
>>245915

yes, but Dogs do have eyesight. No one is saying Moles aren't self-aware because they can't distinguish themselves in a mirror.

You furries are the morons importing exotic animals and then throwing them out into the wild when they start too become aggressive.
>> Anonymous
>>245915

dogs can see objects in a mirror though.

>>245907
lol butthurt is butthurt. I LOST COZ U SEZ SO RITE?!1

>>245908

I don't think you know what "sense impression" means.
>> Anonymous
;_;
oh how adorable. what a shame for that poor panda, it must feel so sad.
>> Anonymous
>>245976

My Trolling-detector-o-matic is going OFF THE CHARTS.