Foto oleh Ginger Me
Rasa malu sulit diamati. Menurut definisinya, rasa malu adalah perasaan yang coba disembunyikan. Namun, ahli primata terkenal di dunia Jane Goodall yakin bahwa ia telah mengamati apa yang bisa disebut rasa malu pada simpanse.
Fifi adalah simpanse betina yang Jane kenal selama lebih dari 40 tahun. Ketika anak tertua Fifi, Freud, berusia lima setengah tahun, pamannya, saudara laki-laki Fifi, Figan, menjadi pejantan utama dalam komunitas simpanse mereka. Freud selalu mengikuti Figan seolah-olah dia memuja simpanse jantan besar itu.
Suatu ketika, saat Fifi merawat Figan, Freud memanjat batang tipis pohon pisang liar. Saat mencapai mahkota yang rimbun, ia mulai bergoyang liar ke depan dan ke belakang. Jika ia anak manusia, kita akan mengatakan ia sedang pamer. Tiba-tiba batang pohon itu patah dan Freud jatuh ke rerumputan tinggi. Ia tidak terluka. Ia mendarat di dekat Jane, dan saat kepalanya muncul dari rerumputan, Jane melihatnya menoleh ke Figan. Apakah ia memperhatikan? Jika ia memperhatikan, ia tidak memerhatikan tetapi terus dirawat. Freud dengan sangat pelan memanjat pohon lain dan mulai makan.
Psikolog Universitas Harvard Marc Hauser mengamati apa yang bisa disebut rasa malu pada seekor monyet rhesus jantan. Setelah kawin dengan seekor monyet betina, si jantan berjalan dengan angkuh dan tanpa sengaja jatuh ke dalam selokan. Ia berdiri dan segera melihat ke sekeliling. Setelah merasakan bahwa tidak ada monyet lain yang melihatnya terjatuh, ia melangkah pergi, dengan punggung tegak, kepala dan ekor terangkat, seolah-olah tidak terjadi apa-apa.
Penyelamatan Hewan: Merasakan Kasih Sayang bagi Mereka yang Membutuhkan
Banyak sekali cerita tentang hewan yang menyelamatkan sesama spesiesnya dan spesies lain, termasuk manusia. Cerita-cerita itu menunjukkan bagaimana individu dari spesies yang berbeda menunjukkan rasa iba dan empati kepada mereka yang membutuhkan.
Di Torquay, Australia, setelah seekor induk kanguru tertabrak mobil, seekor anjing menemukan seekor bayi kanguru di dalam kantungnya dan membawanya ke pemiliknya yang merawat anak itu. Anjing berusia 10 tahun dan bayi kanguru berusia 4 bulan itu akhirnya menjadi sahabat karib.
Foto oleh Flickker Photos
Di sebuah pantai di Selandia Baru, seekor lumba-lumba datang menyelamatkan dua paus sperma kerdil yang terdampar di balik gundukan pasir. Setelah orang-orang mencoba membawa paus-paus itu ke air yang lebih dalam, lumba-lumba itu muncul dan kedua paus itu mengikutinya kembali ke laut.
Anjing juga dikenal suka menolong orang yang membutuhkan. Seekor anjing ras pit bull yang tersesat menggagalkan upaya penjambretan seorang wanita yang meninggalkan taman bermain bersama putranya di Port Charlotte, Florida. Seorang petugas pengawas hewan mengatakan jelas anjing itu berusaha membela wanita itu, yang tidak dikenalnya. Dan di luar Buenos Aires, Argentina, seekor anjing menyelamatkan bayi terlantar dengan menempatkannya dengan aman di antara anak-anak anjingnya yang baru lahir. Hebatnya, anjing itu menggendong bayi itu sejauh sekitar 150 kaki ke tempat anak-anak anjingnya berbaring setelah menemukan bayi itu ditutupi kain di sebuah ladang.
Keadilan Gagak?
Dalam bukunya, Mind of the Raven , ahli biologi dan ahli gagak Bernd Heinrich mengamati bahwa gagak mengingat seseorang yang terus-menerus merampok tempat persembunyian mereka jika mereka memergokinya. Terkadang gagak akan ikut menyerang penyusup meskipun ia tidak melihat tempat persembunyian itu dirampok.
Apakah ini bermoral? Heinrich tampaknya menganggapnya demikian. Ia berkata tentang perilaku ini, "Itu adalah burung gagak bermoral yang mencari keadilan yang setara dengan manusia, karena ia membela kepentingan kelompok dengan potensi kerugian bagi dirinya sendiri."
Dalam percobaan berikutnya, Heinrich menegaskan bahwa kepentingan kelompok dapat mendorong keputusan seekor gagak. Gagak dan banyak hewan lainnya hidup berdasarkan norma sosial yang mengutamakan keadilan dan kewajaran.
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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.