Do animals feel as humans do? Understanding the science behind animals and their emotions using RPA and I am Legend

By Asra Asim 

Have you ever noticed your pet acting sad, happy, frightened, or even coming to protect or comfort you when you feel anxious? These are all spectrums of emotions your pet is expressing. Recently, I got a pair of Shih-tzu puppies, and when we slightly scold them if they are being very naughty or ripping things apart, they go in different corners and face the wall to show that they are visibly angry or sad at being scolded, mimicking small cries L. It is a sight you do not want to see but being a mother to two naughty puppies requires one to have a strong will power. While this made me wonder that how similar are animals and humans in terms of expressing their emotions, it is important to understand the science behind how animals feel and show their emotions. 

 

Understanding emotions in animals through Rise of the Planet of the Apes (RPA):

 

Retrieved from: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011) 

 

The movie Rise of the Planet of the Apes has done an outstanding job at portraying how animals express their emotions in situations of anger, pain, resentment or even fear [Beware of spoilers ahead]. At the beginning of the movie, we are introduced to an ape called “bright eyes” who ends up attacking people at the research facility and is killed, only later to discover that she was scared for her newborn baby and was simply protecting it from the other people. Studies have shown that apes have the ability to depict their fear by showing aggression which can also include baring their teeth to other individuals or animals, and even using vocal growls to intimidate their opponents to scare them away when they are angry (Kret et al., 2020). This is an example of how animals care for their young and may feel threatened when someone tries to approach their young, similarly how humans get protective of their offspring if a stranger approaches them. Moreover, the main character ‘Caesar’ an ape in the movie expresses happiness when exposed to new toys to play with, or even sadness when he realizes his parents were killed in the research facility, he was born in. These emotions displayed by Caesar helps the viewers not only understand the character better but also sympathize with him. However, what struck a chord with me personally was when Caesar was left by his caretakers in a special ape facility, where Caesar was visibly depressed and lonely and felt betrayed by his caretaker for leaving him all alone in a new unknown place. Studies exploring grief in animals have shown that a wide variety of animals express grief either at the loss of a child, abandonment, and the loss of their mates, scientists observed that female elephants who lose their child at birth find it hard to separate from their young and stand there with their ears drooped and refuse to move or eat showing visible signs of depression (BEKOFF, 2000, p.866). This goes on to show that emotionally intelligent animals are very similar at expressing their emotions of betrayal or loss like their human counterparts.  

 

How similar are human and animal emotions?

 

Retrieved from: Meme generator

 

A famous primatologist, Frans de Waal, who has immense experience in studying and understanding animal behavior and emotions argues that animals like humans have different ways to express their emotions, working with chimps he observed that when a chimpanzee passed away other members of the group started cleaning, wiping, and touching its dead body very similar to what we humans do to our dead as a way of preparing their body for burial, he argues that some primates mimic human behavior so much so it may get difficult to distinguish where both species differ (Evans, 2019). Moreover, there are not just physical cues that help us determine animals’ emotions, research has shown that animals undergo biological phenomena’s such as a rise in heart rate, increase in blood pressure, and even increased quantities of stress hormones which are released to exhibit fear and stress in an animals body, similarly we as humans experience similar biological cues when faced with stressful situations (Paul & Mendl, 2018). I mean whose heart rate doesn’t increase when you enter the classroom and forget you had an assignment to submit? Similarly, animals when faced with stressful situations in the wild may also response with similar biological cues. 

 

A closer look at I am Legend and the display of animal emotions:

 

Retrieved from: I am Legend (2011)

 

Another movie, I am Legend shows animals and their behaviors towards their owners in this case a dog. For a second forget how Will smith (Dr. Robert) carried the movie on his back and give some credit to the beautiful dog Sam who was loyal to his last breath, and basically stole the spotlight in certain scenes. In the scene where Rob is visibly scared as he sits in the bathtub as the house is barricaded and darkness descends, you can see him hugging Sam for comfort as the dog also appears visibly distressed upon hearing loud noises from outside. A very interesting article by National Geographic, explains the science behind dogs bonding with their owners by basically feeding on their emotions. The article describes how studies have shown that dogs can basically ‘smell’ certain chemicals in our body that signal to them if we are stressed or fearful. Moreover, dogs tend to project our own emotions, if we are visibly stressed or angry our dogs may mimic those emotions and feel stressed themselves, very similar to how human babies mimic emotions of their parents (a distressed parent will cause the baby to feed off on that stress). The article further states that recent scientific studies show that the release of certain hormones (mainly oxytocin), stimulates the dog’s brain which allows them to further focus on the behavior of their human owners in turn causing an involuntary oxytocin release (Colino, 2021). 

Retrieved from: K9magazine

A study done on dog behavior and their emotions, noted that dogs and humans evolved to understand each other’s emotions where dogs can even sense peoples emotions by their heartbeat only, and certain animals tend to copy the physical cues of their fellow group members, due to a phenomenon called “mirror neurons”, where the cells in the brain along with sight, help the animal to mirror the emotions of others as if it was natural for e.g., if you see someone laughing you may automatically feel happy, in animals this phenomenon is quite similar (Meyers-Manor & Botten, 2020). A video on animal feelings describes an interesting study that was done on dog brains by scientists, and results of their brain scans showed activity when they were faced with different stimuli such as seeing a person they know or even familiar cues, moreover, animal emotions are divided into instinctive, social, and self-reflective emotions which range from emotions such as fear, pride, embarrassment, anger and depression, all this contributes to the idea that animals are social and emotional organisms.

 

While there is much research left to be done on understanding the complexity of animal emotions and interpreting their behaviors given animals cannot speak like humans which may cause the interpretation of their emotions to be very subjective. One can still conclude that we have enough data to say that animals do indeed have emotions and they express them in different ways some of which shockingly resembles that of humans! So next time you notice an animal around you, pause and think how similar they express their emotions to you, and can you understand their emotions. 

 

 If you want to learn more about this topic click on the following resources:

Animals Have Human Emotions- Seeker

TED Talk by Carl Safina on animal thoughts and feelings

 

 

 

Bibliography

 

BEKOFF, M. (2000). Animal Emotions: Exploring Passionate Natures: Current interdisciplinary research provides compelling evidence that many animals experience such emotions as joy, fear, love, despair, and grief—we are not alone. BioScience, 50(10), 861–870. https://doi.org/10.1641/0006-3568(2000)050[0861:aeepn]2.0.co;2

Colino, S. (2021). Yes, dogs can 'catch' their owners' emotions. Science. Retrieved October 29, 2022, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/yes-dogs-can-catch-their-owners-emotions

Evans , K. (2019). What kind of emotions do animals feel? Greater Good Magazine. Retrieved October 29, 2022, from: https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/what_kind_of_emotions_do_animals_feel 

Kret, M. E., Prochazkova, E., Sterck, E. H. M., & Clay, Z. (2020). Emotional expressions in human and non-human great apes. Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews, 115, 378–395. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2020.01.027

Meyers-Manor, J. E., & Botten, M. L. (2020). A shoulder to cry on: Heart rate variability and empathetic behavioral responses to crying and laughing in dogs. Canadian journal of experimental psychology = Revue canadienne de psychologie experimentale, 74(3), 235–243. https://doi.org/10.1037/cep0000225

Paul, E. S., & Mendl, M. T. (2018). Animal emotion: Descriptive and prescriptive definitions and their implications for a comparative perspective. Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 205, 202–209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.applanim.2018.01.008

BBC Earth Unplugged- YouTube. (2013). Do Animals Have Feelings? YouTube. Retrieved October 30, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UZizRoQPic.