by Audrey Frederick

Created on: April 22, 2008

Do Animals Have Emotions?

Do animals have or feel emotion, I cannot tell you the number of times I have been asked that question.

My answer without even looking for any specific emotional studies on animals is simply yes.

I sincerely feel animals are caring creatures and feel for one another some kind of a feeling that can be equated to our understanding of love.

Animals feel pain, they feel and exhibit fear, so why not the feeling of caring?

If it were not true then why do some animals and birds mate for life? It would be very easy just to procreate and leave, never to see the other creature again.

It is my feeling that emotion, the ability to care, which means to like or dislike, is instilled in most warm-blooded animals.

I have also read that mice, iguanas, whales, baboons, elephants, otters, donkeys along with dogs and cats have shown moments of emotion, either of a caring nature or one of dislike. This is not to leave out all the others that I have not read about.

Researchers have come to the conclusion that animals and humans share many of the same traits and emotion is one of them.

To call the emotion love, like or dislikes are human words because we do not speak the animal's language, we do not know what they call it. However, from my point of view it is a feeling of some kind of emotion.

Animals of the same species seem to share an emotional tie and we as humans can easily accept that. What is hard for us to digest, is emotional ties between animals that are normal enemies. The prey and predator becoming what we call friends such as a mouse and a cat. There are many stories of such opposites attracting one another and becoming fast friends.

Scientific research has supported the view that many animals have rich emotional lives.

Charles Darwin made a statement many years ago that said, "the differences among species are differences in degree rather than kind."

Research has shown that all mammals (including humans) share many of the same neuroanatomical structures that are important for feelings. We also share mirror neurons, which help us to understand one another's behavior.

Many animals help each other find food and care for the young.

They would not do this, at least to my way of thinking without some sort of emotional attachment to each other.

Many animals know right from wrong and live among themselves with a code of morals that each group follows.

Have you ever looked into your dog's eyes and seen the love that is there? Have you ever been greeting with joyful yelps and licks and not felt your pet's love when you come home from work? Has your cat ever curled up alongside you and purred up a storm and not felt loved?

If they weren't feeling something for you, why would they do it?

Emotions are a gift from the Universe that made it possible for us to feel and for our animal friends to feel.

Without emotion what would be the purpose of being?

Can you imagine living in an emotionless society, where no one cared?

I cannot!

I treasure my ability to feel emotion and I treasure the fact that I am aware of the emotion my animal's friends are capable of sharing with me.

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