Kuva: Ginger Me
Hämmennystä on vaikea havaita. Määritelmän mukaan se on tunne, jota yritetään piilottaa. Mutta maailmankuulu primatologi Jane Goodall uskoo havainneensa simpansseissa niin sanottua hämmennystä.
Fifi oli naarassimpanssi, jonka Jane tunsi yli 40 vuotta. Kun Fifin vanhin lapsi Freud oli viisi ja puoli vuotta vanha, hänen setänsä, Fifin veli Figan, oli heidän simpanssiyhteisönsä alfauros. Freud seurasi aina Figania ikään kuin hän palvoi isoa miestä.
Kerran, kun Fifi hoiti Figania, Freud kiipesi ylös villin jauhobanaanien ohutta vartta pitkin. Kun hän saavutti vehreän kruunun, hän alkoi heilua villisti edestakaisin. Jos hän olisi ollut ihmislapsi, olisimme sanoneet, että hän näyttäytyy. Yhtäkkiä varsi katkesi ja Freud kaatui pitkälle ruoholle. Hän ei loukkaantunut. Hän laskeutui Janen lähelle, ja kun hänen päänsä nousi ruohosta, hän näki hänen katsovan Figaniin. Oliko hän huomannut? Jos oli, hän ei kiinnittänyt huomiota vaan jatkoi hoitoa. Freud kiipesi hiljaa toiseen puuhun ja alkoi ruokkia.
Harvardin yliopiston psykologi Marc Hauser havaitsi urospuolisessa reesusapinassa niin sanotun hämmennyksen. Naaraan pariutumisen jälkeen uros pomppasi pois ja putosi vahingossa ojaan. Hän nousi seisomaan ja katsoi nopeasti ympärilleen. Kun hän havaitsi, etteivät muut apinat nähneet hänen kaatuvan, hän marssi pois, selkä korkealla, pää ja häntä ylhäällä, ikään kuin mitään ei olisi tapahtunut.
Eläinten pelastus: myötätuntoa apua tarvitsevia kohtaan
Tarinoita eläimistä, jotka pelastavat oman ja muiden lajiensa jäseniä, myös ihmisiä, on runsaasti. Ne osoittavat, kuinka eri lajien yksilöt osoittavat myötätuntoa ja empatiaa apua tarvitsevia kohtaan.
Australian Torquayssa, kun auto törmäsi kenguruäitiin, koira löysi pussistaan joeyn vauvan ja vei sen omistajalleen, joka hoiti poikasta. 10-vuotiaasta koirasta ja 4 kuukauden ikäisestä joeystä tuli lopulta parhaat ystävät.
Kuva: Flickker Photos
Uuden-Seelannin rannalla delfiini tuli pelastamaan kaksi kääpiövalasta, jotka olivat juuttuneet hiekkapalstan taakse. Kun ihmiset yrittivät turhaan saada valaita syvempään veteen, delfiini ilmestyi ja kaksi valasta seurasivat sitä takaisin valtamereen.
Koirat tunnetaan myös hädänalaisten auttamisesta. Kadonnut pitbullmutti rikkoi naisen ryöstöyrityksen, joka lähti leikkikentältä poikansa kanssa Port Charlottessa Floridassa. Eläinvalvontaviranomainen sanoi, että oli selvää, että koira yritti puolustaa naista, jota hän ei tuntenut. Ja Argentiinan Buenos Airesin ulkopuolella koira pelasti hylätyn vauvan sijoittamalla hänet turvallisesti omien vastasyntyneiden pentujen joukkoon. Hämmästyttävää kyllä, koira kantoi vauvaa noin 150 metrin päähän hänen pentujensa makaamiseen löydettyään vauvan rievun peitossa pellolta.
Raven Justice?
Kirjassaan Mind of the Raven biologi ja korppiasiantuntija Bernd Heinrich huomautti, että korpit muistavat yksilön, joka jatkuvasti hyökkää kätköihinsä, jos he saavat hänet kiinni teosta. Joskus korppi liittyy hyökkäämään tunkeilijaa vastaan, vaikka hän ei olisi nähnyt kätkön hyökkäävän.
Onko tämä moraalista? Heinrich näyttää ajattelevan niin. Hän sanoo tästä käytöksestä: "Se oli moraalinen korppi, joka etsi inhimillistä vastinetta oikeudenmukaisuudelle, koska se puolusti ryhmän etua itselleen mahdollisesti aiheutuvilla kustannuksilla."
Myöhemmissä kokeissa Heinrich vahvisti, että ryhmän edut voivat ohjata sitä, mitä yksittäinen korppi päättää tehdä. Korpit ja monet muut eläimet elävät sosiaalisten normien mukaan, jotka suosivat oikeudenmukaisuutta ja oikeudenmukaisuutta.
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We who 'know' always knew the animal kindom were far more aware than the controlling factions wanted us to believe....we felt their suffering, we shared their love, we understood their unspoken language. God truly exists in all living things. Very nice article - thanks for sharing!
When I was 12 years old, my horse had a stroke and had to be put down. I looked out the window at his body, lifeless and lying in the corral. I watched as Socks, the matriarch of the barn cats, walked towards the body, followed by a single-file line of the other dozen-or-so kittens and cats. Watching from inside the house I thought, "Oh no, they're going to eat him." But I didn't interrupt. When the slow parade reached the body, the cats sat down about two feet away, in an arc, smelling and looking. After some time Socks stood up, turned around and walked back to the barn, followed in orderly procession by the others.
Even 30 years later I am touched by this memory.
This horse (Bourbon Jim was his name) had been a huge high-strung Thoroughbred, but he was gentle and considerate with the cats. Once when I came home from school I found three kittens on his back. I couldn't figure how they got up there. This kept happening until one day I saw: The little kittens, with their sharp little kitten claws, were climbing up his front legs and up over his sides to sit atop his back. Bourbon didn't even flinch.
[Hide Full Comment]Thank you for dispelling the myth we have all been told. Everything we do influences every living being. It is time we all kept ourselves conscious of this. Thank you so much!
About the same time we adopted the silver-grey kitten, Griffin, we also adopted a white rabbit, Angel. They were kit and kitten together and played all summer in the back yard. Angel was a house-rabbit. In the fall, I bunny-proofed my office for him, and put a baby-gate at the door, so he couldn't get to the rest of the house. Since I don't like the cold, Angel didn't get to go out much, but Griffin continued to play with him inside.
In the early spring, Griffin once showed up at the back door with a huge pile of leaves in his mouth, bigger than his head. He zipped right by me and took off down the hall toward my office. Griffin jumped over the gate and ran to the bunny. I was freaking out, thinking he had a mouse in his mouth along with all those leaves. But no, he just dumped the leaves on the floor in front of Angel. No mouse, thankfully. Then Griffin waited for Angel to react. I think the bunny was as confused as me. So Griffin rolled in the leaves, with his belly in the air. I could almost hear him saying: "Since you couldn’t come outside with me, I brought spring in to you." And Angel jumped in the leaves with him.
[Hide Full Comment]How lovely. Animals are the best of teachers. They live lovingly and ask so little in return. Surely there are animals in heaven. Would it be heaven if there were no animals? Perhaps all beings who are loved, animal and human with join after this life on planet earth is complete for for a magnificent heavenly reunion, and we will continue our work and play in the presence of the great I AM.
Yes Animals are intelligent and have emotional lives but that does not mean I have to love all dogs or all other animals. Some of them are simply unlovable, just like some humans. The pitbulls who killed the six year old boy coming back from school in switzerland were certainly not lovable.
It is only the arrogant among us who claim a special status for our own, based on such superficial considerations as ethnicity, culture, color of skin, gender or having a human body.
The compassionate have always known that we are all children of the same source. We are unique and different in many ways but that does not make us superior than others.
We need no scientific research to tell us this fundamental truth.
AN EXCELLENT AND VERY KNOWLEDGABLE ARTICLE WHICH HAS INDEED CHANGED THE WAY OF THINKING ABOUT ANIMALS
EDWARD
DELHI (INDIA)
I always said animals are way better then humans! Loyality, unconditional love and they never intentionally break our hearts. God sent them here so would we know good.
where are the citations/references for the scientific research?
Yes, I agree with the comment of Womanswork below: as someone who spends the majority of their time with eight companion animals, including a parrot, I can attest to the fact that they exhibit feelings of joy, sadness, insecurity, jealousy and envy, among a range of other emotions. And the best thing is, they don't hide these feelings; they're writ large for all to see, if in fact one is willing to see...it's so much better than the emotional dissembling of humans.
Oh my, if only animals could use "words" and tell us more ......perhaps then we would listen....we dont seem to hear their needs at all by their body language etc....How "dumb" are we humans really, when we dont treat our fellow creatures with more respect , love and appreciation,
I have watched my grandsons dalmation watch my grandsons shadow to see "where" he is going to throw the ball that he is hiding behind his back....I tested him 3 times couldnt believe his intelligence , how pathetic of me!!!!!!
How DO we get people to understand this about animals? I do not know. thank you for sharing all this wonderful information.....
Finally, Science is catching up to what I and many others have known forever! To think animals don't feel or think is the height of elitism
When I take my morning walks and observe nature I often think we are at the bottom of the chain. I am in awe of trees. The are so present they no longer need to move. They feed themselves from above and below and in the fall the leaves they shed create more nutrients for themselves and others.