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Colonol Kertz
ANIMALS’ ALTRUISM AND ABILITY TO EMPATHIZE

By Dr. Michael W. Fox

If animals were incapable of empathy, of understanding another’s emotional state and having feeling for another’s distress, then we would find no evidence of altruistic behavior in the animal kingdom. But indeed we do.

Ethologists use the terms care-giving, or epimeletic behavior, and care-soliciting, or et-epimeletic behavior, to identify those behaviors that underlie the altruism we see in various species that means that they do have the capacity to empathize. Skeptics dismiss all of this as anthropomorphic and scientifically unproven, and it disturbs me to read some professional comments on this topic. For example, veterinarian John S. Parker stated that "Pets can and often do react to their owners’ distress or discomfort, but that is not to be confused with experiencing the emotion of empathy" (Letter in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, June 1, 2006, pp 1677-1678). Aside from contending that animals "do not have the cognitive capacity to put themselves in our place", he incorrectly sees empathy not as a process or affective state but as an actual emotion, which it is not. Animal ethics philosopher Dr. Bernard E. Rollin’s response (in this same Journal, on p.1678), stating that "there is some very suggestive evidence that at least some animals, such as higher primates and elephants, do [empathize]" begs the question. The evidence from countless instances of empathetic behavior in companion animals is a red flag and not some anthropomorphic red herring, putting us all on notice that animals are far more aware than many people would like or accept for reasons best known to themselves. Here are some of the many accounts that people have shared with me about their empathetic animal companions.
>> Colonol Kertz
Esther Schy from Fresno CA writes that "When I returned from the Cancer Center following treatment, I was extremely weak and ill. My two Airedale dogs would each take up their positions, like two book-ends, one on either side of me in bed and would lie there unmoving for hours, except for their taking turns laying their heads gently where I hurt the most."One night two years earlier one of her dogs named Robbie "suddenly jumped up in bed next to my husband, almost plastered to his side. He normally never did this, preferring to sleep on his cushion next to my side of the bed. He kept trembling for one hour, and then went down stairs by himself, which is another action he did not normally do (leaving the bedroom at night). My husband suffered a massive heart attack and died a few minutes later. I believe that Robbie knew that something awful was to be."
>> Colonol Kertz
Like the Airedales who rested their heads on where their human companion hurt most, M.S.D., from Romeo MI has a Siamese cat who picked up on her cardiac palpitations that were causing much distress and preventing her from sleeping. "My Chloe came up, got as close as she could, and placed her paw on my left chest over my heart. Within a very short time the palpitations slowed and stopped, allowing me to get a good night’s rest."

Amy e. Snyder in Chesapeake, VA was comforted by her Main Coon cat Bonkers, who slept at her side during the woman’s ordeal with throat cancer, giving her comfort and constant attention. During radiation treatment some 100 miles away from home, Ms. Snyder was only able to come home on weekends, and one weekend she found Bonkers lethargic and looking older. She took him to her veterinarian, and Bonkers was euthanized because he had developed an inoperable cancer "completely cutting off his windpipe.---I believe, due to the extreme oddness of similarity to our illness that my cat literally tried to take on my disease. He did get me through all of this."
>> Colonol Kertz
This anecdote supports my theory of sympathetic resonance, where highly empathetic animals may develop the same or similar disease that afflicts their loved one. Whether it is a deliberate or coincidental, the fact remains that empathizing is not without risk for humans and non-humans alike.

Many other letters attest to how cats and dogs have helped their human companions cope with depression and other emotional and physical difficulties, especially the loss of a spouse or other close relative.

Cary Watson from Clifton Park, NY writes that "Without my two dogs’ companionship, dealing with the loss of my wife would have been much harder. I can see why many people die soon after losing a spouse. We need love to carry on."

Echoing this sentiment, Barbara K. Joyner of Courtland VA wrote that, following the untimely death of her husband to be, her adopted cats "make me feel wanted, needed, loved. They bring joy and happiness into my dark, sad existence."
>> Colonol Kertz
Suffering the loss of her only child from suicide, Patricia Maunu of Sioux Falls, SD tells me that her Bichon Frise dog J’aime "has given me the desire to get out of bed, and on many days given me the will to live!"

These and many other personal stories about how companion animals have helped their human guardians through difficult times, and are a constant source of affection and the joy of life, help us all appreciate why so many people who were victims of the Katrina hurricane disaster in New Orleans and other communities refused to leave without their animal companions. They are integral parts of the family and emotional lives of millions of people, and those who have not experienced the gifts of animal companionship, and the depths of animals’ empathy, have missed a golden opportunity to enrich their lives and awaken their appreciation for all creatures great and small.
>> Colonol Kertz
Tl;dr - subject of the screenplay I'm working on.
>> Colonol Kertz
Do elephants care?
Elephants have the largest brain of any land animal, but not much is known about how they use it.

Last fall, Joshua Plotnik, an Emory University graduate student, published the results of a mirror test he’d done with elephants. Working with Emory’s Frans de Waal, a pioneer in the study of chimpanzee intelligence, and Diana Reiss, who devised a version of the mirror test for dolphins, Plotnik installed a sturdy 8x8-foot Plexiglass mirror in an enclosure at New York City’s Bronx Zoo. Keepers painted a white X on the foreheads of three females—Maxine, Patty and Happy. Then Plotnik sat back and enjoyed the show.

The results were fascinating. The three females seemed to recognize right off the bat that the image was not another elephant. They experimented with the reflected image just like kids—moving their heads to the side and watching how the mirror image reacted. Happy used the image to guide her trunk so that she could examine the white X marked on her forehead.

It may not sound like much, but this means that Happy has a prerequisite for recognizing that another animal—or human—needs help. And if Happy has the capacity for empathy, so do all elephants.
>> Colonol Kertz
That’s what seemed to happen once at the Indianapolis Zoo. Sophi, a female elephant, watched her keepers push a heavy cart across the yard after cleaning up the enclosure. The elephant had never received any training to do chores, but suddenly she started to push too. Was Sophi displaying empathy? We have no way of knowing, notes Deborah Olson, a director at the zoo, but the staff keenly felt Sophi’s attachment to them.

Actually, examples of animal empathy have long been noted. What’s new today is that scientists seem ready to accept the idea that animals may be conscious or smart. Frans de Waal cites an example of chimp empathy dating back to 1910: A Russian scientist couldn’t get a chimp to come down from a roof unless she pretended she was hurt. Only now are such stories receiving a hearing in the scientific establishment.

“We are now much freer to talk about mental processes and emotions in animals that 15 years ago would have been laughed out of the room,” says de Waal.
>> Colonol Kertz
Animals bear?ng arms
The use of tools—and weapons—is considered a mark of higher intelligence. In the 1960s, the idea that animals might fashion weapons was the stuff of science-fiction films. Then, in 1999, a team led by Richard Wrangham of Harvard observed chimps using sticks to beat other chimps. Even more stunning were reports published this spring by Jill Pruetz of Iowa State University about chimps in the savannas of Senegal fashioning sticks into spears, which they used to hunt small primates called bush babies.

These chimps may have been hunting for a very long time—there’s evidence that they pass on such expertise from generation to generation. The primatologist Christophe Boesch has observed chimps using granite stones to crack panda nuts in the Ivory Coast’s Tai Forest since the 1980s. But this year, Boesch and Julio Mercader of the University of Calgary uncovered nut-cracking stones in that same forest dating back 4,300 years—even before early Africans started using agriculture. This means that, unknown to science, the chimps have been doing something in close proximity to humans for thousands of years.

As scientists continue to investigate evidence of intelligence, empathy and foresight in animals, we’re also likely to broaden our understanding of the origins and nature of human ingenuity. Such studies should increase our respect for the other creatures with whom we share the planet.
>> Colonol Kertz
http://www.parade.com/articles/editions/2007/edition_07-29-2007/Animal_Intelligence
>> Colonol Kertz
>>291859

To elaborate, elephants.
>> Colonol Kertz
>>291857

Although, I will agree that there is one species that for certain can't place itself in the context of another, as much as they try.
>> Fatzilla
Sorry to interrupt, but could I just say that the seal in the OP's pic is creeping me out!
>> Colonol Kertz
>>291873

Don't look away. It will eat you.
>> Anonymous
"One day when spring was still around that unseen corner, Blacky [a raccoon] showed us still another facet of his special personality. Somewhere - probably down by the frog pond - he'd met a scrawny, thin-tail Bachelor Boy who was desperately hungry. [...] I hurried to meet them, bread in hand, [...] but hungry as Boy was, his caution was greater and he dived for the bushes. Blacky took his own survey for danger and then with a reassuring glance for his new friend came to take bread from my hand with a thank-you pat - as always. He stayed only long enough to take a nibble to prove his trust and then turned to the bushes with a look that said more plainly than words, "See, this is a friend. Come, eat." Boy took one step but was afraid to come any farther and so I tossed the bread his way and went back inside, [...]. Boy came out now, Blacky staying beside him while he gulped it all down, ...
>> Anonymous
If anyone here is really interested in this topic, I recommend looking up Marc Bekoff
>> Anonymous
>>291867
>>291859
I don't think you understood the concept of universal empathy. A bonobo understands that the needs of a bird, a flying animal, are different form the needs of a bonobo. Thus it will try to help a bird recovering from concussion to fly again.

This is completely different from being able to recognize emotional states that are in common with two animal species. Cats and dogs have the same basic emotions as humans, and the same things that hurt them usually hurt us as wll. This enables them to show the same kind of empathy to us that they would to another of their own species, and yet choose the correct response. So far there is nothing to suggest that a dog or a cat could be empathetic to the needs of, say, a fish or a bird.
>> Anonymous
>>291891

Oh, I understand it perfectly.

http://www.animalintelligence.org/category/interspecies/

That's one of the better resources for this kind of thing, actually.
>> Anonymous
>>291891

Again, to elaborate - you have crows caring for cats, going out of their way to get food when normally they could have gotten it for themselves by much easier means; or, a lioness risking its' life to save some - it's been a while since I've read about it - undetermined animal, also going out of its' way to bring it sustenance.
>> Anonymous
>>292112

Among others, obviously.