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Animal Emotions: Passionate NaturesCynthia Moss, director of the Amboseli Elephant Research Project in Kenya, and author of Echo of the Elephants and Elephant Memories, participated at the "Animal Emotions: Passionate Natures" seminar at the Smithsonian Institute in October, 2000. [photos by Betsy Swart]
Most animal lovers need no convincing that we humans are not the only creatures with emotional lives. To observe the grief of an orphaned chimpanzee or watch the joy of a puppy at play, is to know, with intuitive certainty, that our animal kin have feelings. But science requires more than intuition-it demands theories, experiments, and proof. Given that the word "emotion" is hard to define, the proof has remained elusive since quantifiable responses have historically defied science's empirical method. However, as physical sciences have made exponential progress in the 20th century, they have confirmed the possibilities of emotional connections among humans and many other creatures. Neurobiologists found that human and nonhuman brains share neurochemicals bearing on emotions; moreover, researchers have found that chimpanzees and we share 98.4 percent of the same genetic material. In this informative, slide- and video-illustrated seminar, eminent scientists give evidence of the range and versatility of animal emotions-love, anger, fear, joy, and grief-based upon their research in their respective fields. Working from their observations of animals, including dogs, wolves, chimpanzees, elephants, and dolphins, they recount compelling stories of animals' emotions, and detail the current research and interpretations of this information. |
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