The article starts reflexing: it's an invasion of privacy to film an animal on it's burrow? Some people think that it is, because if an animal retreats to its burrow, obviously doesn't want to be seen. The reflexion suggests that we have to take care for not disrupt wild animal behaviour, because animals can assume emotions, as a human does.
The journal current biology shows a video were some chimps apparently mourning the death of Pansy, an elderly member of the troop. The chimps gathered around her, moving her bedding gently and checking her breathing, then stood silently their arms around each others shoulders. This video received widespread media coverage, most of it sympathetic the idea the idea that animals, especially primates, share human emotions such as grief, sadness and even empathy.
In a report, the profesor Marc Bekoff claims to have widnessed a magpie funeral, where a group of magpies brought pieces of grass to the body of one of their members killed by a bike, and the accounts of how elephants often gather around a dead or dying animal.
The author of this report show interest in this subject because she wanted to put and end to claims of human superiority based on the belief that animals doesn't feel like the human does, because humans have self-awareness. She also concerned that this attitude of belief human's superiority derives from Judeo-Christian, who claim that God created the universe and life within it for man, and the dominance, expliotation and abuse of animals it's justified. However, the author said that changing our conciousness and increasing interest in animal emotions, our relationships with other species will be better.
Doctor Stuart Semple is involved in the study of animal behaviour, and concerned that the video is a classic case of anthropomorphism, the projection of human feelings on animals, wich in chimps is easier because of their physiological resemblance to humans. The Daily Mail Coverage shows this point: in one photo (the picture of this summary), a chimp with a rather ambiguous expression is shown sitting holding a banana. The caption reads: "Chippy the chimp looks downcast while clutching a banana in an enclosure". They want to mark the difference between say this, and say: "Chippy sits in his enclosure clutching his stolen banana", because this last claim changes totally the intencion to show animals feelings.
However, the author claims that the anthropomorphism is an insult because is one of the key ways in wich the human species has been able to disregard the abuse inflicted on animals. this is because, for the author, anthropomorphism disregards animal's welfware issues and promoted the human as the center of the universe. Nevertheless, Semple is right to suggest caution, because his real issue is less a dispute about the existence of animal emotions, and more a matter of establishing what exactly it is animals might be feeling. Semple points to recent research that measured stress and social responses in baboons who had lost close relatives. Bereaved baboons showed an increase in stress hormones and in levels of social grooming: very similar responses to humans. "This kind of evidence is more compelling," says Semple. "It's rigorous and scientific. It allows us to speculate on what they are feeling or not."
Finally, the author concludes: "If we assume animals have identical emotions to humans, perhaps we will insist on treating them as human. But until we know what animals really feel and what those feelings are, then treating them as identical to humans might be just as cruel as ignoring their feelings".
"What if that study revealed the animal's dependency on a species of plant or the need for conditions that were threatened elsewhere? If we failed to study, to film and to observe, we might lose that creature altogether. All of which suggests that investigating what exactly animals are feeling is one of the most pressing areas of contemporary research".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2010/apr/30/chimpanzees-emotions-ethics
The article starts reflexing: it's an invasion of privacy to film an animal on it's burrow? P Some people think that it is, because if an animal retreats to its burrow, obviously doesn't want to be seen. The reflexion suggests that we have to take care WW for not disrupt wild animal behaviour, because animals can assume emotions, as a human does.
ReplyDeleteit sympathetic the idea REPEAT the idea that animals, especially primates, share human emotions such as grief, sadness and even empathy.
However, the author claims that the anthropomorphism is an insult because is one of the key ways in wich the human species has been able to disregard the abuse inflicted on animals. P this is because, for the author, anthropomorphism disregards animal's welfware issues and promoted the human as the center of the universe. Nevertheless, Semple is right to suggest caution, because his real issue is less a dispute about the existence of animal emotions, and more a matter of establishing what exactly it is animals might be feeling. Semple points to recent research that measured stress and social responses in baboons who had lost close relatives. Bereaved baboons showed an increase in stress hormones and in levels of social grooming: very similar responses to humans. "This kind of evidence is more compelling," says Semple. "It's rigorous and scientific. It allows us to speculate on what they are feeling or not."
Finally, the author concludes: "If we assume animals have identical emotions to humans, perhaps we will insist on treating them as human. But until we know what animals really feel and what those feelings are, then treating them as identical to humans might be just as cruel as ignoring their feelings".
"What if that study revealed the animal's dependency on a species of plant or the need for conditions that were threatened elsewhere? If we failed to study, to film and to observe, we might lose that creature WW altogether. All of which suggests that investigating what exactly animals are feeling is one of the most pressing areas of contemporary research".
Clau this new was very interesting, I didn't really found mistakes (I think), just a few small things like punctuation P.
This new was relationated with our last class from "animal behaviour".
See you on monday!
Pd: I thought that "altogether" was wrong, but then I realized that you just copied that directly from the new, so it must be correct.
And I just copied parts from your text where I found something wrong (in my opinion), not all the text because it was too much for posting (the blog didn't let me)
=)