Do animals have emotions? The answer is a resounding yes, according to an interdisciplinary group of animal behavior researchers from the fields of biology, psychology, anthropology and philosophy surveyed in a recent project.
Wild female baboons near Amboseli National Park, Kenya
"We were really struck by what we found," said first author Matthew Zipple, Klarman fellow in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior in the College of Arts & Sciences. "A majority of professional animal behavior researchers ascribe emotions and consciousness to a wide range of the animal taxonomy. This stands in stark contrast from the attitudes of the 20th century, when the importance of emotions in animals' lives was at best ignored and more often completely denied."
"Animal emotions and consciousness: a preliminary assessment of researchers' perceptions and biases and prospects for future progress" published Nov. 13 in Royal Society Open Science, provided a unique view of current scientific thought on animal emotions and consciousness.
Read the full story on the College of Arts and Sciences website.
