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If you are the proud owner of a dog (or even a cat), you would be the first to agree that some animals seem to empathize with human emotions and certainly with each other. We hear of cross empathy between dogs and cats taking care of stray litters, of dogs able to sense when their owner is sad. Intuitively we know that animals are capable of strong emotions.
Recent studies on animal behavior shows just that, but with a slight twist. Supposedly animals follow a moral code that enables their packs or groups to better function. It is a simple tool of evolution, one that humans have also picked up on. Agreeing to not take your neighbor’s stuff and not kill your neighbor is a benefit to all when attempting to survive. An article by Telegraph interviewed Professor Marc Bekoff, an ecologist at University of Colorado, Boulder. Professor Bekoff suggests that morals are built into the social patterns of high animal brains.
He claims that these rules help to control fighting within the group and encourage co-operative behaviour.
Recent neurology work has also revealed that distantly related mammals such as whales and dolphins have the same structures in their brains that are thought to be responsible for empathy in humans.
Other findings have also suggested that some animals may even be capable of showing empathy with the suffering of other species.
Elephants, rodents, monkies, bats, dolphins, wolves: all animals that survive in packs or groups and rely on a moral code of conduct to keep the group functioning at its best. Humans are simply one step above this basic moral system in that we are able to analyze this moral conduct in ourselves and in other animals. We are also able to break such moral codes with our big brains by justifying killing with “holy war” or taking another people’s land in the name of a god we worship. In this way we have de-evolved from the system still used today by animals such as dolphins and wolves.
To conclude, here is a picture of a mother bird blocking the water in a drain pipe with her own body to protect her nest and chicks.
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