Life with Birds

While I’m linking NYTimes articles, I think y’all should sit down for a lengthier read:

Watching Whales Watching Us

I never understood how any reasonable person who’d spent time with animals could deny they are conscious, aware thinkers who experience the world much as we do.  Yet science has insisted these observations are, at best, unproven, and at worst unfounded… despite science also saying, in more and more detail, that the underlying foundations of our thoughts and emotions are all found in animal brains same as in ours.

So when Star takes offense at some little thing and snarls at Pi, then a few moments later approaches her with lowered tail and gently licks her face, according to accepted science this is something other than an apology.  An apology, a concept of forgiveness, requires emotional depth science has been unwilling to believe something as “simple” as a dog might possess.

But science might be coming around.  From the article:

“Those are the kinds of things that for the longest time a scientist wouldn’t dare consider,” [Toni Frohoff] said. “But thank goodness we’ve gone through a kind of cognitive revolution when it comes to studying the intelligence and emotion of other species. In fact, I’d say now that it is my obligation as a scientist not to discount that possibility. We do have compelling evidence of the experience of grief in cetaceans; and of joy, anger, frustration and distress and self-awareness and tool use; and of protecting not just their young but also their companions from humans and other predators. So these are reasons why something like forgiveness is a possibility.”

Anyway, set down and read the whole darn thing.  Granted it’s right up my alley in particular, but it should be an interesting read even if you’re not quite so obsessed with the subject.