For most of the 20th century, animals weren’t allowed to have emotions. Your dog didn’t actually love you—it (and it was an “it” back then) was just a stimulus–response machine conditioned to act a specific way in a specific situation. Scientists who said otherwise—that animals actually had minds capable of thoughts and emotions—were accused of “anthropomorphizing” and ridiculed by their peers. Even researchers as famous as chimp specialist Jane Goodall spent years sitting on evidence that animals could do more than just salivate at the sound of a bell.
But over time, that bias waned. Just consider the first sentence (and the title) of Virginia Morell’s new book, Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures: “Animals have minds.”
“Not so long ago,” she writes later, “I would have hedged these statements.” After six years of reporting in 11 different countries, the longtime science journalist arrived at the same conclusion that scientists like Goodall have known for a long while: that animals feel. And strongly, it turns out.
But how complex are these emotions? Fear and panic are one thing; but do animals lust, even love? We went to Morell for some answers. Animals might not celebrate Valentine’s Day, but their relationships still look a lot like ours. Here are some of her favorite examples.
Parrot porn, anyone? That’s what Morell was treated to in Venezuela, where scientists are studying the calls of green-rumped parrotlets. One of their racier findings? Little birds be bangin’ like mammals: pushing, clawing, clutching, thrusting. But that’s not all. These parrots lead soap opera–ready lives.
“They were very, very fun to watch,” Morell said.
In one of her favorite stories, a parrot widow gets remarried to a neighbor, only to have her new husband leave her a day later for his first wife. Bad General Parrotreus! All that drama is meticulously documented in a field log, which Morell calls “a parrotlet version of Desperate Housewives.”
Photo: Male (right) and female (left) green-rumped parrotlets. Ninoska Zamora/Flickr.
Animals' Love Lives Look a Lot Like Ours
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Animals' Love Lives Look a Lot Like Ours
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Animals' Love Lives Look a Lot Like Ours
