Most people believe that animals have emotions and love their owners, but many scientists think that its instinct and your animals don’t like you. Your beloved family dog just wants the treat and knows what to do. I would like to believe that my dog loves me and listens because I trained her will and I want to prove to you that animals have emotions with my research. The three basics of us human’s morals are compassion, remorse, and right to wrong.
Like I said animals have morals one is compassion. Compassion is empathy which is putting yourself in others shoes. One good example is of mice. In 1958 scientist conducted an experiment to see if rats had empathy the rats would send a shock to a fellow rat if they wanted food. Most rats decided not to shock their fellow rat buddy proving that rats have empathy. They have also been known to scringe and even cry if a fellow rat is in pain, but only if they know the rat.
Remorse is when you feel bad for something you did for example if you broke your neighbor’s window and didn’t tell anyone you would feel bad that’s remorse. Dogs usually look guilty if they chew up your favorite slipper or eat the food on the table; they look a lot guiltier if you scold them. Dr. Horwitz conducted an experiment where he had a dog stay in a room by itself with a big tasty treat the owners told the dog not to eat it. The scientist told the owners weather or not the dogs ate the treat or not then the dog would show tell-tale signs of remorse for example tail in-between the legs, ears down, sitting or hiding behind something. I have firsthand seen my dog eat my PB&J sandwich right off the table I grabbed the sandwich from her and when I looked at her she showed all the signs of a guilty dog showing remorse.
Similar to remorse is right from wrong the dog I talked about knew that taking that sandwich was wrong but did it anyways and then felt remorse. A Diana monkey group where put into an experiment where they need to put a coin into a machine to get food. A smart older monkey figured it out and helps teach the less smart monkeys to food they need to survive. This perfect example of right from wrong. Also in a wolf pack the older bigger stronger wolves will not try as hard when playing with weaker less strong wolves but if the lesser wolves bite to hard they will be punished. Those few examples are great for right to wrong.
Now that you’ve read those many examples I hope that you know that your animals who you love, love you just as much. It’s proven that animals have compassion, remorse, and they know right from wrong.so next time you see an ant or set mouse trap would you kill or squash the little guy?
Do you think your dog or cat likes you and listens to you or they just learned to adapt?
What are some things you’ve witnessed firsthand to see animal emotions?