10 Most Emotional Animals
 People, no doubt, have emotions. Happiness, grief, sorrow, loneliness and are
a whole bunch of emotions experienced by humans. But did you ever think that
animals would display emotions in a very similar way that humans do? Rene Descartes once said that animals were just automata: red-blooded
machines without thoughts or wishes.
However, there have been studies that prove
that animals have affluent emotional lives as well as the sense of knowing right
from wrong. From dogs being able to detect diseases to bats, dolphins, whales, frogs, and
various rodents using high-frequency sounds to find food, to communicate, and to
navigate, below are the ten most emotional animals ever listed in history.
10)
Elephants Empathize and They Have Burials Too!
Elephant researcher Iain Douglas-Hamilton and a friend were watching elephants
in the Samburu National Reserve in Northern Kenya and they noticed a teenaged
elephant female, named Babyl who was walking very slowly. They said that she’d
been crippled so the other members of her herd never felt the need of leaving
her behind. By observing, they came to a conclusion that the herd would walk a
while and would stop to check on Babyl. That behavior is just really similar
with that of people. They make sure that no one gets left behind.
Another surprising thing is that they also have burials! I mean not with the
coffin and all but they do have a ritual. It has been said that when a member of
a troop dies, the ones that were left by their beloved member would “mourn” by
“burying” the body with leaves and even grass. They would look after it for a
week! Just like us, we mourn for a departed loved one and set a wake for at
least a week. One more amazing thing about this is that, we visit the grave
sites of our loved ones and elephants do too! Believe it or not but, the bones
of dead elephants are visited by elephants after even a few years after its
death.
9) Proven
Guilty!
 Those big puppy eyes would let you know if your dog has done something wrong.
According to a couple of researches and surveys from dog owners, they said that
they feel guilty and act strangely after doing something bad because they know
that they will get in trouble. Dogs connect anger with trouble, and that’s what we humans exactly
do too. The only difference is that the idea of correcting what wrongdoings
they’ve done before should be corrected, if not repeated, in the future. The
only thing that they understand is that when they hear their owner gasp, walk
with heavier footsteps or deep breaths of disappointment, they would have to get
out of their owner’s way or act as if they really regret what they’ve done.
Also, in another site which talks about dog’s behavior, seventy four percent
from their survey agrees and believes that dogs feel guilty. The owner says that
we behave in a particular way when we feel guilty. Dogs behave in a similar way
in the same circumstances. Just like us, when we know that we’ve done something
unreasonable, we show that we feel guilty in order for the other person to feel
like we are aware of what we did wrong and that we feel bad about it. This
behavior, both in dogs and humans, make us feel better about ourselves and make
the other person give a lighter punishment.
8) Polyandry in
Birds? Yes it is Happening! With Jealousy on the Side…
Some of us would think that polyandry or polygamy is only for people who have
religion which allows such practice. Another turnaround for this is that female
birds are the ones who have different mating partners making its children have
different fathers. When the male goes out to look for food for the family, the
female has the advantage of looking for another partner. Also, when males get
back to their nest after hunting for food and they found out about it, they
break the beaks of the female and remove their feathers.
Red-necked Phalarope (phalaropus Lobatus):
One example of a species which takes polyandry to the extremes is the female
Red Phalarope. This species spends a week or so with a male. She then courts the
male and lays eggs in its nest. When the nest is full, the female begins to
search for another male. She does not care for its young and flies south long
before its eggs hatch.
You see, it’s not just in humans but also in animals. The thing is, it’s more
of an extreme thing since they could have as many as they could as long as they
have enough to feed their young.
7) Generosity
and Kindness Among Dolphins
People usually feel obligated to be kind and generous when the need for the
situation arises. It’s like when a person sees a homeless person in the middle
of the road and it is freezing cold out, he or she would want to help that
person and do any kind gesture that the situation suggests. Even dolphins
actually help not only their fellow dolphins but also human beings. There have
been several news articles published stating that dolphins save humans who are
almost eaten by hammerhead sharks when they’re out diving or surfing in the open
sea.
There was one story published in the book Chicken Soup for the Soul about
this woman who has been floating for hours after a shipwreck in the ocean. She
felt a force trying to push her in another direction, opposite from where she is
floating to. She then opened her eyes to see that it was a dolphin. She was
startled at first but she calmed down when she saw the dolphin’s eyes. It was
staring right through her as if signaling that she should trust it. She then was
very thankful about how a dolphin saved her life. This is truly amazing!
6)
Fruit Flies Might Have the Case of Being Alcoholics!
We humans have the tendency to drink liquor whenever the opportunity presents
itself. Any reason to celebrate will give us the chance to drink, but we do
drink too when we are depressed over having a broken heart. However, we are not
only the ones who drink to celebrate or to forget, fruitflies drink away their
sadness too.
There has been an experiment that tested when a male fruit fly is rejected by
a female fruit fly. They placed 2 drinks in a room, one with no alcohol and the
other with alcohol. Rejected males tend to be happier with the second option.
The thing is, female fruit flies do not like to mate for the second time after
recently mating with another male.
On the other side of using alcohol, it’s actually good for the fruit flies.
Mom fruit flies lay their eggs on alcohol because it’s toxic for the wasps.
5) Superstitious
Pigeons
Despite the new era we have now, some of us still believe in superstitions.
Pigeons do, too. B. F. Skinner, a famous psychologist did some research about
pigeons. He put them in a box with food and then they ate the food with no
hesitation. Pigeons did not know how to get more food, but they believe that
certain actions would bring more food out of nowhere. One instance is that a
pigeon was spinning in a circle and viola, the food just arrived. Pigeons did
not know that food will arrive even if they don’t spin in circles.
4) Revenge is a
Dish Best Served Cold
Tigers, like humans would seek revenge when they feel bullied. Here’s a story of
one tiger’s revenge. One Christmas Eve, a group of three went to the zoo and
made fun of a tiger. The tiger escaped and hunted down those three people.
Another event was when the famous poacher Vladimir Markov was killed in 1997.
He was a famous hunter. One day, he was not home but the tiger that he shot
followed Markov’s scent. He then tore everything in Markov’s house and
waited patiently for his prey.
3) Kind-hearted
Rats
Even if rats are all those rude adjectives rolled into one, they have one side
that makes scientists wonder about their intelligence. There was one experiment
including two rats. One was placed on a cage and the other was left free. The
scientists observed how the free rat would react to this situation. After a few
minutes, he started to try to let his friend out.
He even gave his friends some
treats outside the cage. Just like Cinderella’s little helpers, he just wanted
to free his friend. In another experiment, hungry rats were placed in a box and
would only be fed if they pulled a lever that would shock the other rats. They
refused to do so! This just proves that rats are kind- hearted deep down.
2) Bee
Calculators
According to studies, bees can actually calculate faster than a computer. They
can compute the shortest distance to transfer to another flower at random
routes. The bees seem to know that the square, triangle and hexagon are the only
self- tessellating regular polygons. They do know this because of constructing
hexagonal prism cells in their hives. It is possible that because the busy bees
work too much on making the hive, they got a way on how to make things easier.
They do not know how to calculate exactly nor do they need formulas in order to
make a hive but they do it almost all of their lifetime and that’s why, out of
routine, managed to solve “the traveling salesmen problem.”
1) Lonely Red
Foxes
There is this true story that went viral on the Internet where a red fox was
burying its mate after it has been killed by a cougar. The red fox covered the
dead body with twigs and dirt, looked around and patted the soil to fully cover
the body. The red fox walked away, with obvious sadness reflected on his face. A
lot of animals actually have this behavior.
Magpies also do a simple funeral
service for their dead family. Even a gorilla was caught trying to let his dead
mate eat food even if she’s already gone. When the gorilla realized that his
mate is dead, he howled really loud and banged his chest.
Conclusion
These are touching stories all over the world proving once again that humans are
not the only ones capable of feeling and thinking. Emotions are not only created
for humans.
Nature
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