Unit Nine Animal Emotions

Understanding Animals: The animal kingdom is full of creatures of varied shapes, sizes and colours. Altogether, there are over a million different kinds of animals, each one different from all the others. When you start to think about all these different animals, it can be bewildering. To begin to understand them, you need to look for two things: you need to know what group an animal belongs to, and what way of living it is specially designed for. Here we only discuss Animal Groups.

Animals fall naturally into groups. Simply look for animals which are most like each other in the greatest number of ways. For example, insects and spiders do not fall into the same group. All insects have only six legs, while spiders always have eight. Among the animals with backbones, there are five main groups--fish, amphibians 两栖动物, reptiles 爬虫动物, birds and mammals. Each major group is made up of smaller groups. Among the mammals, for example, the smaller groups include the pouched mammals, the rodents 啮齿动物and the primates 灵长类动物 (monkeys, apes and man).

Animal intelligence: All animals, except the very lowest, exhibit some degree of intelligent behavior, ranging from learned responses to complex reasoning. Although there are many methods for studying this complex behavior in animals, serious problems arise in applying the concept of intelligence to animals other than man. For example, in one early study method--the "anecdotal" method -- the intelligence level of animals was measured in terms of the human capacities required to perform parallel acts. Such a method, used uncritically and without suitable observational or experimental controls, led to gross overestimation of the intelligence of the animal being studied. As a result, C. Lloyd Morgan proposed his now famous canon. "In no case may we interpret an action as the outcome of the exercise of a higher psychical faculty if it can be interpreted as the outcome of the exercise of one which stands lower in the psychological scale." This dictum prompted scientists to reexamine previous interpretations and analyze complex animal behavior into its simpler components. They found that many of the anecdotal descriptions could be reinterpreted in terms of instinctive or learned responses.
Testing methods today seek to measure such intelligence factors as the abilities to learn, to solve new problems, or to create novel solutions to familiar problems. In addition, such problems as differences of intelligence among kinds of animals, loss of intelligence in brain-injured or drugged animals, and correlation of intelligence with nervous system complexity are studied. Results of such experiments not only provide information about animal intelligence, but also offer evidence for studying human intelligence.

Apart from man, the larger kinds of apes are the most intelligent animals in the world.
Like human beings, monkeys and apes pull faces to express their mood to other animals of their own kind. These pictures below show that some of the faces a chimpanzee can pull might be confusing to human beings. When a chimp is frightened, it looks as if it is laughing.

Pet: An animal--most often a dog, cat, bird, fish, or rodent--usually kept in the home to be played with, viewed, or studied. More unusual pets include reptiles and amphibians, monkeys, guinea pigs, hamsters, and rabbits.
Most pets serve no utilitarian purpose but are kept because they evoke affection or curiosity and often are given a special status as companions for members of the family. Cattle, horses, and other large domestic animals usually serve a more utilitarian purpose and are not ordinarily considered as pets.
Acquiring a pet should never be a matter of impulse or casual acquiescence. All too often a mismatch between pet and owner results in the neglect or abandonment of the pet. Therefore the prospective buyer should find out in advance of a purchase exactly which species and, if necessary, which breed within the species will best suit his or her purse, facilities, aptitude for identifying and shouldering responsibilities, and personal likes and dislikes.
The purchaser of a pet also must be farsighted enough to know that much of the time he or she--and not the child for whom the pet may be intended--will be doing the feeding, cleaning and walking.

The animals in the pictures are all popular pets in Britain. Budgerigars are informally called budgies. They are small, brightly coloured birds originally from Australia. They are kept in cages in people's houses. Hamsters are specially bred as pets. They are small rodents with pockets (pouches) in their cheeks for storing food, and short tails (unlike mice, which have long tails). Guinea pigs are small, roundish, furry rodents with short ears and not tail.)

Animal Emotions: The article is extracted from the US News and World Report magazine (30 October 2000).

Laura Tangley: She is a science journalist with a long-standing interest in the conservation of forests and other ecosystems, particularly in the tropics. She has written many articles on these subjects, mostly for BioScience magazine, where she was features editor until 1988. Ms. Tangley was also associate editor of Earthwatch magazine and co-authored the book Trees of Life: Saving Tropical Forests and Their Biological Wealth.

Right Whale: any of the three species of baleen whales: the Greenland right whale, the southern right whale and the pygmy right whale. The name right whale originally was given to those species considered "right" for hunting. All three species are seriously endangered.
In general, right whales are stout bodies and have very large heads, two blowholes, and no dorsal fins. They have fringed plates of a skin outgrowth known as baleen hanging from arched upper jaws, giving them a somewhat moustached appearance. Like all baleen whales, they filter their food-chiefly krill-through the baleen.

Leviathan:<<圣经·以赛亚书>>中象征邪恶的海中巨兽；庞然大物 In the Bible, one of the names of the primordial monster vanquished by god in the creation of the world (Psalm 74:14; Isaiah 27:1). The word is derived from the Hebrew word meaning "coiled one." In the book of Job (41:1) and in Psalm 140:26, Leciathan means as sea monster, perhaps a whale, and does not have any mythical connotation. A similar primordial monster is mentioned in Canaanite literature, from which the Israelites probably derived the idea. According to apocalyptic literature, Leviathan is held in cheek by God and will break loose at the end of the present era, only to be vanquished.

Anthropomorphism:（赋予神、动物或无生命物以人形或人性的）拟人论，拟人观 It is the attribution of human qualities to beings that are not human or to objects or phenomena in nature. Anthropomorphism is an important term in theology and mythology because people often speak of gods as having human traits. Anthropomorphism is also common in other areas, as when people speak of "wise old owls," "dancing flowers," or "furious storms." It is used as a technical term in anthropology, psychology, and the study of literature.
Anthrophomorphic symbols are frequently found in secular literature, as when a poet speaks of "rosy-fingered dawn" or "the wrathful sea." Animals with human qualities have been the main characters in fables and fairy tales for thousands of years, from the fables of Aesop through the medieval stories of Reynard the Fox or down to Brer Rabbit and Mickey Mouse. The popularity of animated cartoons shows the willingness of the public to accept anthropomorphic figures.
Anthropomorphism is of interest to psychologists as an example of the way humans view their world. The tendency to see animal behavior in human terms is sometimes a problem in interpreting psychological experiments in which animals are the subject.

Jaak Panksepp: distinguished Professor of Psychobiology, Bowling Green State University

Affective Neuroscience - The Foundations of Human and Animal Emotions
Publication date: 15 October 1998, Oxford University Press

Marc Bekoff: a professor of organismic biology at the University of Colorado at Boulder, is a prolific author and editor. In Smile of a Dolphin, he provided his book with the most magnificent illustrations of an enormous variety of animal emotions-actually 120 in number. He has categorized these under the headings of Love, followed by Fear, Aggression and Anger, then Joy and Grief and, finally, Fellow Feelings.

The Smithsonian Institution: (史密森学会)It was established in 1846 with funds bequeathed to the United States by James Smithson. The Institution is as an independent trust instrumentality of the United States holding more than 140 million artifacts and specimens in its trust for "the increase and diffusion of knowledge". The Institution is also a center for research dedicated to public education, national service, and scholarship in the arts, sciences, and history.

The Smithsonian is composed of sixteen museums and galleries and the National Zoo and numerous research facilities in the United States and abroad. Nine Smithsonian museums are located on the National Mall between the Washington Monument and the Capitol. Five other museums and the Zoo are elsewhere in Washington, D.C., and both the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and the National Museum of the American Indian Heye Center are in New York City.

Goodall, Jane (1934-- ): British ethologist, who gained fame for her research on chimpanzees in the wild. She was born in London on April 3, 1934. Although she had no university degree or formal training in ethology (the study of animal behavior), with the encouragement and help of Louis S. B. Leakey she began to study chimpanzees in 1960 at the Gombe Stream reserve in Tanzania. She received a doctorate from Cambridge University in 1965 after submitting a thesis on chimpanzee behavior.
Through close long-term daily observation, Goodall was able to win the trust of the Gombe chimpanzees and note individual differences among them. She was the first scientist to report that chimpanzees, although essentially vegetarian, will hunt, kill, and eat small game. She also established that they fashion rudimentary tools; previously, tool making had been regarded as a strictly human activity. Her books included My Friends the Wild Chimpanzees (1967), In the Shadow of Man (1971), and The Chimpanzees of Gombe: Patterns of Behavior (1986).

Killer Whale: 逆戟鲸 The largest member of the aquatic mammalian family Delphinidae, which includes 36 species of dolphins and other small-toothed whales. They earned their common English name because their prey often includes seals, sea lions, walrus, dolphins, and other whales as well as the fish and squid that are their staple diet. They are voracious but not wanton in their billing and there are no records of them attacking and killing people.
Sexual maturity is attained at an age of eight to ten years, and the gestation period is 15 months. The newborn is about 8 feet (2.5 meters) long and weighs about 400 pounds (180 kg). It is nursed about one year, though it may accompany its mother long after weaning as it learns to hunt with the pod. Killer whales have no natural predators except man, who has taken them for predator control, food, and public display. Their life span in the wild is the excess of 50 years.

Joseph LeDoux: He is Professor of Neural Science at New York University. He is author of The Emotional Brain.

Sheer joy. Romantic love. The pain of mourning.
Scientists say pets and wild creatures have feelings, too.

1.Swimming off the coast of Argentina, a female right whale singles out just one of the suitors that are hotly pursuing her. After mating, the two cetaceans linger side by side, stroking one another with their flippers and finally rolling together in what looks like an embrace. The whales then depart, flippers touching, and swim slowly side by side, diving and surfacing in perfect unison until they disappear from sight.

3.A grief-stricken chimpanzee? Leviathans in love? Most people, raised on Disney versions of sentient and passionate beasts, would say that these tales, both true, simply confirm their suspicions that animals can feel intense, humanlike emotions. For their part, the nation's 61 million pet owners need no convincing at all that pet dogs and cats can feel angry, morose, elated - even jealous or embarrassed. Recent studies, in fields as distant as ethology and neurobiology, are supporting this popular belief. Other evidence is merely anecdotal, especially for pets - dogs that become depressed, or even die, after losing a beloved companion, for instance. But the anecdote - or case study in scientific parlance - has now achieved some respectability among researchers who study animal behavior. As University of Colorado biologist Marc Bekoff says, "The plural of anecdote is data."

4.Still, the idea of animals feeling emotions remains controversial among many scientists. Researchers' skepticism is fueled in part by their professional aversion to anthropomorphism, the very nonscientific tendency to attribute human qualities to non-humans. Many scientists also say that it is impossible to prove animals have emotions using standard scientific methods - repeatable observations that can be manipulated in controlled experiments-leading them to conclude that such feelings must not exist. Today, however, amid mounting evidence to the contrary, "the tide is turning radically and rapidly," says Bekoff, who is at the forefront of this movement.

5.Even the most strident skeptics of animal passion agree that many creatures experience fear-which some scientists define as a "primary" emotion that contrasts with "secondary" emotions such as love and grief. Unlike these more complex feelings, fear is instinctive, they say, and requires no conscious thought. Essential to escape predators and other dangers, fear - and its predictable flight, fight, or freeze responses - seems to be hard-wired into many species. Young geese that have never before seen a predator, for example, will run for cover if a hawk-shaped silhouette passes overhead. The shape of a nonpredatory bird, on the other hand, elicits no such response.

6.But beyond such instinctual emotions and their predictable behavioral responses, the possibility of more complex animal feelings - those that entail mental processing - is difficult to demonstrate. "I can't even prove that another human being is feeling happy or sad," says Bekoff, "but I can deduce how they're feeling through body language and facial expression." As a scientist who has conducted field studies of coyotes, foxes, and other canines for the past three decades, Bekoff also believes he can accurately tell what these animals are feeling by observing their behavior. He adds that animal emotions may actually be more knowable than those of humans, because they don't "filter" their feelings the way we do.

7.Yet because feelings are intangible, and so tough to study scientifically, "most researchers don't even want to talk about animal emotions," says Jaak Panksepp, a neuroscientist at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and author of Affective Neuroscience. Within his field, Panksepp is a rare exception, who believes that similarities between the brains of humans and other animals suggest that at least some creatures have true feelings. "Imagine where we'd be in physics if we hadn't inferred what's inside the atom," says Panksepp. "Most of what goes on in nature is invisible, yet we don't deny that it exists."

8.The new case for animal emotions comes in part from the growing acceptability of field observations, particularly when they are taken in aggregate. The latest contribution to this body of knowledge is a new book, The Smile of a Dolphin, which presents personal reports from more than 50 researchers who have spent their careers studying animals - from cats, dogs, bears, and chimps to birds, iguanas, and fish. Edited by Bekoff, who says it will finally "legitimize" research on animal emotions, the volume has already garnered scientific attention, including a Smithsonian Institution symposium on the subject.

9.One of the most obvious animal emotions is pleasure. Anyone who has ever held a purring cat or been greeted by a bounding, barking, tail-wagging dog knows that animals often appear to be happy. Beastly joy seems particularly apparent when the animals are playing with one another or sometimes, in the case of pets, with people.

10.Virtually all young mammals, as well as some birds, play, as do adults of many species such as our own. Young dolphins, for instance, routinely chase each other through the water like frolicsome puppies and have been observed riding the wakes of boats like surfers. Primatologist Jane Goodall, who has studied chimpanzees in Tanzania for four decades, says that chimps "chase, somersault, and pirouette around one another with the abandon of children." In Colorado, Bekoff once watched an elk race back and forth across a patch of snow-even though there was plenty of bare grass nearby - leaping and twisting its body in midair on each pass. Though recent research suggests that play may help youngsters develop skills needed in adulthood, Bekoff says there's no question that it's also fun. "Animals at play are symbols of the unfettered joy of life," he says.

11.Grief also seems to be common in the wild, particularly following the death of a mate, parent, offspring, or even close companion. Female sea lions witnessing their pups being eaten by killer whales are known to actually wail. When a goose, which mates for life, loses its partner, the bird's head and body droop dejectedly. Goodall, who saw the young chimp Flint starve after his mother died, maintains that the animal "died of grief."

12.Elephants may be nature's best-known mourners. Scientists studying these behemoths have reported countless cases of elephants trying to revive dead or dying family members, as well as standing quietly beside an animal's remains for many days, periodically reaching out and touching the body with their trunks. Kenyan biologist Joyce Poole, who has studied African elephants since 1976, says these animals' behavior toward their dead "leaves me with little doubt that they experience deep emotions and have some understanding about death."

14.The most important emotional site identified so far is the amygdala, an almond-shape structure in the center of the brain. Working with rats, neuroscientists have discovered that stimulating a certain part of the amygdala induces a state of intense fear. Rats with damaged amygdalas, on the other hand, do not show normal behavioral responses to danger (such as freezing or running) or the physiological changes associated with fear - higher heart rate and blood pressure, for example.

15.In humans, brain-imaging studies show that when people experience fear, their amygdalas, too, are activated. And just like the rats, people whose amygdalas are damaged by accident or disease seem unable to be afraid when the situation warrants it. In humans and rats, at least, amygdalas are "basically wired the same way," says New York University neuroscientist Joseph LeDoux, whose lab conducted much of the rat research. He adds that beyond fear, "the evidence is less clear, but the amygdala is implicated in other emotions as well."

16.The case for animal emotions is also bolstered by recent studies of brain chemistry. Steven Siviy, a behavioral neuroscientist at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania, has found that when rats play, their brains release copious amounts of dopamine, a neurochemical that is associated with pleasure and excitement in humans. In one experiment, Siviy placed pairs of rats in a distinctive plexiglass chamber and allowed them to play. After a week, he could put one animal alone in the chamber and, anticipating its upcoming play session, it would become "very active, vocalizing, and pacing back and forth with excitement." But when Siviy gave the same animal a drug that blocks dopamine, all such activity came to a halt. Neuroscientist Panksepp has found evidence that rats at play also produce opiates-chemicals that, like dopamine, are thought to be involved with pleasure in people.

17.Another chemical, the hormone oxytocin, is associated with both sexual activity and maternal bonding in people. It is released, for example, when mothers are nursing their infants. Now it looks as though the same hormone affects attachment among animals, at least in the case of a mouselike rodent called the prairie vole. To investigate oxytocin's role in social bonding, University of Maryland neuroscientist C. Sue Carter targeted the vole because it is one of the few mammal species known to be monogamous. She found that females, who normally spend about a day selecting a mate from a pool of eager males, will choose one within an hour - often the first male they see - if they have first received an injection of oxytocin. Voles given a drug that blocks oxytocin, however, will not select a mate, no matter how much time they have. Carter concludes that pair bonding in voles relies at least in part on oxytocin, which produces behavior that looks much like people who are "falling in love."

18.But is it love, really? Bernd Welsig, the Texas A&M University biologist who observed amorous right whales off the coast of Argentina, believes that, as a scientist, "I should probably call this event a mere example of an 'alternative mating strategy.' " But Welsig still entertains the possibility that the cetaceans behaved the way they did because "they were the 'right' right whales for each other."

19.Skeptics remain unconvinced. "A whale may behave as if it's in love, but you can't prove what it's feeling, if anything," says neuroscientist LeDoux, author of The Emotional Brain. He maintains that the question of feelings boils down to whether or not animals are conscious. And though animals "may have snapshots of self-awareness," he says, "the movie we call consciousness is not there." Richard Davidson, a neuroscientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, agrees that higher primates, including apes and chimps, are the only animals that have demonstrated self-consciousness so far. Still, he believes that there are other creatures that "may at least have antecedents of feelings."

20.Or probably more, say Bekoff and his colleagues. Their most convincing argument, perhaps, comes from the theory of evolution, widely accepted by biologists of all stripes. Citing similarities in the brain anatomy and chemistry of humans and other animals, neuroscientist Siviy asks: "If you believe in evolution by natural selection, how can you believe that feelings suddenly appeared, out of the blue, with human beings?" Goodall says scientists who use animals to study the human brain, then deny that animals have feelings, are "illogical."

21.In the end, what difference does it really make? According to many scientists, resolving the debate over animal emotions could turn out to be much more than an intellectual exercise. If animals do indeed experience a wide range of feelings, it has profound implications for how humans and animals will interact in the future. Bekoff, for one, hopes that greater understanding of what animals are feeling will spur more stringent rules on how animals should be treated, everywhere from zoos and circuses to farms and backyards.

22.But if there is continuity between the emotional lives of humans and other animals, where should scientists draw the line? Michel Cabanac, a physiologist at Laval University in Quebec, believes that consciousness arose when animals began to experience physical pleasure and displeasure. In experiments with iguanas, he discovered that the animals show physiological changes that are associated with pleasure in mammals - a rise in body temperature and heart rate - whereas frogs and fish do not. He proposes that emotions evolved somewhere between the first amphibians and reptiles. Yet even enthusiasts don't ascribe emotions to the very bottom end of the food chain. Says Bekoff: "We're not going to talk about jealous sponges and embarrassed mosquitoes."

4.After mating, the two cetaceans linger side by side, stroking one another with their flippers and finally rolling together in what looks like an embrace.(para.1)

After mating, the two whales stayed close together for a long time, touching one another with flippers gently and finally rolling together as if they embraced each other warmly.

___ e.g. The banks have acted in unison with the building societies in lowing interest rates.

6.Over the next few weeks, Flint grows increasingly listless, withdrawing from the troop - despite his siblings' efforts to bring him back-and refusing food.(para.2)

During the next few weeks, though his brothers and sisters take great efforts to bring him back, Flint withdraws from the large group of chimpanzees and refuses food, thus grows more and more spiritless.

7.Most people, raised on Disney versions of sentient and passionate beasts, would say that these tales, both true, simply confirm their suspicions that animals can feel intense, humanlike emotions.(para.3)

As most people are brought up by watching animated cartoons full of conscious and passionate animals such as Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse, and Bambi produced by Disney, they would say both "A grief-stricken chimpanzee" and "Lenathans in love" tales are true and naturally establish the truth that animals can have emotions like man.

10.But the anecdote - or case study in scientific parlance - has now achieved some respectability among researchers who study animal behavior. (para.3)

More and more case studies show with strong evidence that animals have feeling emotions.

12.Researchers' skepticism is fueled in part by their professional aversion to anthropomorphism, the very nonscientific tendency to attribute human qualities to non-humans. (para.4)

Because of their professional habits they so strongly dislike anthropomorphism that
researchers' sceptical attitude is parly intensified or flared up.

fuel: supply with fuel
___ e.g. The inflation in this region is fuelled by big wage increases.

aversion: (to sb/sth) strong dislike;avoidance
___ e.g. I've always had an aversion to getting up early.
________ He took an immediate aversion to his new boss.

attribute sth to sb/sth: regard sth caused by sb/sth
___ e.g. She attributes her success to hard work and a bit of luck.

13.manipulate(para.4): to operate or control by skilled use of the hands; influence or manage skillfully

14. Today, however, amid mounting evidence to the contrary, "the tide is turning radically and rapidly," ... (para.4)

Today, however, among increasing evidence proving the opposite the tide that animals
feelings must not exist is changing completely and rapidly...

___ e.g. --"I hear you are enjoying your new job." --"on the contrary, I find it rather dull."

15.strident(para.5):with a hard sharp sound or voice, esp. containing a high unpleasant note;shrill

16. Essential to escape predators and other dangers, fear - and its predictable flight, fight, or freeze responses - seems to be hard-wired into many species.(para.5)

Many species seem to own such a basic emotion as fear because they possess the nature of running or flying in advance, fighting if necessary and becoming motionless to avoid being attracted attention, which is vital to escape predators and other dangers.

___ e.g. Palestinians run for cover during a gun battle at the entrance of the West Bank town of Bethlehem on October 20.

18.elicit(para.5): to succeed in drawing out (facts, information etc) from someone

20.field studies(para.6): scientific study done in the field of coyotes, foxes and other canines

field: the place where practical operations happen, as compared to places when they are
planned or studied.

___ e.g. She's studying tribal languages in the field .(=living with the people who speaks them.)

________ Our class is doing a field trip to study animals and plants in the local countryside.

21.He adds that animal emotions may actually be more knowable than those of humans, because they don't "filter" their feelings the way we do.(para.6)

He goes on to say that animal emotions may realy be more easily detectable than those of humans,they don't disguise their true feelings as we do.

2) collection of essays by several people on a particular subject, published as a
book

25.Beastly joy seems particularly apparent when the animals are playing with one another or sometimes, in the case of pets, with people.(para.9)

26.Virtually all young mammals, as well as some birds, play, as do adults of many species such as our own. (para.10)

Almost all young mammals and some birds play as do adults of many species including our
human beings.

27.somersault(para.10): to perform a somersault
___ e.g. The child somersaulted across the gymnasium.

28."Animals at play are symbols of the unfettered joy of life," he says. (para.10)

"Only when they are playing can animals are free from care and show the joy of life," he says.

___ e.g. The new city developed quickly,unfettered by the usual planning regulations.

whimper: (esp. of a frightened animal or person) to make small weak cries;cry or sob with soft intermittent sounds

___ e.g. The company are going to revive an old musical for their next production.

32.remains(para.12): (fml) dead body; corpse; ancient buildings; parts which are left

___ e.g. The company is still only in its infancy and has less experience in management.

35.In animals studied so far, including humans, emotions seem to arise from ancient parts of the brain that are located below the cortex, regions that have been conserved across many species throughout evolution.(para.13)

When it comes to all animals studied so far, emotions seem to originate from parts of the
brain below the cortex, which have been conserved across many species throughout evolution
and have been existing for a long time.

36. warrant(para.15): to justify or deserve; guarantee; to declare as if certain

___ e.g. Just because you like it, that doesn't warrant spending so much money on it.

___ e.g. His enemies showed to the public the letter implicating him in the robbery.

39.Now it looks as though the same hormone affects attachment among animals, at least in the case of a mouselike rodent called the prairie vole.(para.17)

Now it looks as if the same hormone influences affection among animals at least concerning a mouse like rodent called the private mouse.

___ e.g. The college student feels a strong attachment to his family because he never leaves home before.
________ It's a vacuum cleaner with a special attachment for dusting books.

40. " But Welsig still entertains the possibility that the cetaceans behaved the way they did because "they were the 'right' right whales for each other." (para.18)

But Welsig still considers the possibility that the whales behaved that way because they were the most suitable right whales for each other.

41.boil down to(para.19): (infml) to be or mean, leaving out the unnecessary parts;amount to
___ e.g. It's a long report, but it really boils down to a demand for higher safety standards.

42.And though animals "may have snapshots of self-awareness," he says, "the movie we call consciousness is not there."(para.19)

And though animals "may have moment's self-awareness," he says, "what we call
consciousness doesn't really exist there."

44. anatomy(para.20): the body of a person or animal; the way a living thing works or is built

...resolving the argument over animal emotions could be not only an intellectual exercise but the way all animals are treated.

spur: to strongly encourage sb/sth to do better; achieve more; incite or stimulate

48.Yet even enthusiasts don't ascribe emotions to the very bottom end of the food chain.(para.22)

Yet even enthusiasts don't believe that these small or tiny animals at the bottom end
have any emotions.

food chain: a group of animals arranged in a series in which each member eats the one below
it and is eaten by the one above it.

非常的开心。浪漫的爱情。悲恸的哀悼。科学家说宠物和野生动物也有情感。

1．一只在阿根廷海岸附近的水域中游动的露脊鲸，在众多热烈追求她的求偶者中只选出一名幸运儿。“完婚”之后，两头露脊鲸并排在水中徜徉，它们用鳍肢相互抚摩，最后又一起在水中滚动，看上去就像在互相拥抱。然后，两头露脊鲸开始游向远方，鳍肢相互触摸，慢慢并排游动，一会潜入水中，一会又浮出水面，它们的动作完美、和谐，直至最终在视线中消失。

2．在坦桑尼亚，致力于研究黑猩猩行为的灵长类动物学家记录了一个黑猩猩群落中享年50岁的“女族长”弗洛死后发生的一些事情。弗洛的儿子弗林特第二天一整天都坐在母亲的尸体旁边，有时还会抓住她的手发出几声呜咽。在此后的几个星期时间里，弗林特的情绪越来越低落，他离群索居并且不再进食，尽管他的兄弟姐妹设法想让他回到群体中来。终于，在弗洛死后第3星期，原本年轻健康的黑猩猩弗林特也死了。

3．悲伤过度的黑猩猩和坠入情网的海洋巨兽的故事是真的吗？很多人，由于观看迪斯尼版感性多情的动物卡通片的影响，会说这两个真实的故事更加证实了他们认为动物有强烈的、人类般的情感的看法。从他们的角度来看，全国六千一百万拥有宠物的人完全不需要提供什么证据来证实宠物狗和猫会生气、郁闷、得意洋洋——甚至会嫉妒或困窘。最近在动物行为学和神经生物学这样的边缘学科的研究证实了这种普遍的看法。其他的证据只是些轶事趣闻，特别是一些有关宠物的事，例如狗会在失去心爱的同伴后，变得沮丧，甚至死去。但是轶事趣闻——或科学的术语称为案例研究——现在已经获得了研究动物行为的研究人员的重视。正如科罗拉多大学的生物学家马克·贝科夫所说：“大量的轶事趣闻就是数据。”

4．但是，许多科学家仍然对动物也有情感的观点持有异议。研究人员之所以会表示怀疑，部分原因是他们出于职业习惯讨厌拟人论，因为他们认为这是一种将人类的特性强加在非人类生物身上的毫无科学根据的主观倾向。许多科学家还认为用标准的科学方法（在受控实验环境下可进行重复观察）是无法证明动物是有情感的——这使他们得出结论，认为这些所谓的动物情感一定不存在。但是动物情感论的积极倡导者贝科夫指出，如今面对越来越多的相反证据，“这场运动的潮流正在根本、迅速地转向”。

5．甚至连那些对动物情感论持绝对怀疑态度的人也承认许多动物有恐惧感——一些科学家认为恐惧是与爱和悲伤等“中级”情感相对的“初级”情感。他们认为，与较为复杂的“中级”情感相比，恐惧是一种本能，它不需要任何有意识的思维。恐惧及其可以预见的逃跑、搏斗或者呆住不动的反应，是逃避食肉动物和其他危险所必需的，它看起来好像是许多动物与生俱来的本领。例如，以前从未见过食肉动物的小鹅如果看到形状像老鹰一样的黑影从头顶掠过就会马上跑去寻找藏身处。而另一方面，非食肉鸟的形状就不会引发这样的反应。

6．但是除了这些具有本能性质的情感及其可以预见的行为反应之外，科学家很难证明动物可能拥有更为复杂的情感，即那些必需有心理活动过程的情感。贝科夫说：“我甚至不能证实另一个人是快乐或悲伤，但我可以通过肢体语言和脸部表情推论出他（们）的情感。”贝科夫对丛林狼、狐狸及其他犬科动物进行长达30年的实地研究，他还认为自己可以通过观察这些动物的行为准确地说出他们的感受。他又指出，事实上了解动物的感情可能比了解人类的感情更容易，因为它们不会像人类那样对情感进行“过滤”。

7．但是《情感神经学》一书的作者、俄亥俄州立堡林·格林大学神经学学家雅克·潘克塞普指出，因为感情是一种无形的东西，而且很难用科学手段进行研究，“所以大多数研究人员甚至不愿意谈论动物情感问题”。潘克塞普在他的研究领域里是一个非常少见的例外，他认为人类大脑和其他动物大脑之间相似之处表明，至少某些动物拥有真正的感情。潘克塞普说：“想象一下如果我们没有推测出原子中的物质，那我们的物理会是什么样的。在自然中大部分事物的进展是看不见的，然而我们不否认其存在。”

8．对动物情感的接受之所以会出现新的局面，部分原因是有越来越多的人愿意接受研究人员取得的实地观察结果，特别是从总体角度看待这些结果时。一本名为《海豚的微笑》的新书为增加动物情感方面的知识做出了新的贡献，该书收录了50多名研究人员撰写的个人报告。这些研究人员将自己的整个职业生涯都倾注在对猫、狗、熊、黑猩猩、鸟、鬣蜥和鱼等动物的研究。该书的编辑贝科夫认为这本书最终会使动物情感的研究变得“合法”。而这本新书也的确引起了科学界的关注——其中，史密森氏学会就举行了一次以动物情感为主题的研讨会。

9．动物最显而易见的情感之一就是快乐。养过会发出咕噜声的小猫，或者受到过一边跳，一边叫，摇着尾巴的小狗欢迎的人，知道动物看起来常常十分快乐。动物相互嬉戏的时候，或有时跟人一起玩耍时（就宠物而言），它们的快乐好像会变得特别明显。

10．事实上，所有的幼小的哺乳动物和一些鸟类都会嬉戏玩耍，正如很多种类的成年动物一样，包括人类也是如此。例如小海豚就像爱闹着玩的小狗，常常在水中互相追逐。人们常常看到它们像冲浪运动员般追逐在船后的浪花上。灵长类动物学家简·古多尔曾经在坦桑尼亚对黑猩猩进行了40的年研究，他说黑猩猩会“孩子般尽情地追逐、翻跟头、踮着脚尖相互旋转”。有一次贝科夫在科罗拉多观察到一只麋鹿来来回回地跑着穿越一小块雪地，尽管边上就有无雪的草地。它每次跨跃都要跳起来并在半空扭动着驱体。贝科夫说虽然近来的研究表明嬉戏玩耍会帮助小动物培养成年所需要的技巧，毫无疑问它也会带来快乐。他还说：“玩耍的动物是无拘无束生活快乐的象征。”

11．在野生动物中悲伤似乎也很常见，尤其是在失去了配偶、双亲、幼崽，甚至是亲密的同伴的时候。比如，当母海狮目击了自己的小海狮被逆戟鲸吃掉时，会发出哀号。一生只有一个配偶的天鹅失去配偶时，会沮丧地垂着头和身体。古多尔亲眼看到小黑猩猩弗林特在母亲死后饿死，他坚持说小黑猩猩是“死于悲伤”。

12．大象可能是大自然最著名的哀悼者了。研究这些庞然大物的科学家的报告中有大量的事实陈述了大象试图使死去的或将要死去的家庭成员复活，还会很多天静静地站在尸体旁，不时地伸出长鼻触动一下尸体。肯尼亚生物学家乔伊斯·普尔从1976年以来就研究非洲大象，他说：这些动物对待死去的动物的行为“让我几乎毫不怀疑地认为它们体验着深切的感情并对死有所理解。”

13．有一些“确凿的”科学证据也可以证明动物有感情。致力于情感生物学（一个新生的科学领域）研究的科学家发现，人脑与其它动物的大脑之间存在着许多相似之处。科学家在到目前为止对动物（包括人类）的研究发现，情感看起来好像是在大脑一些较为“古老”的区域中产生的，这些区域位于大脑皮层以下，它们在许多物种的进化过程中都得以保存下来。

14．目前已经被科学家识别出来的最重要的情感区域，是大脑中的扁桃体，这是一个位于大脑中央的杏仁状结构。神经科学家通过在老鼠身上进行的实验，发现刺激扁桃体某个特定的部分会导致实验鼠处于一种极度恐惧的状态。在另一方面，扁桃体遭到破坏的实验鼠在遇到危险时既不会表现出正常的行为反应（比如呆住或者逃跑），也不会出现与恐惧联系在一起的生理变化——如心跳加快和血压升高。

15．利用成像技术对人脑进行的研究表明，当人类感到恐惧时，大脑中的扁桃核也会被激活。与实验鼠一样，由于意外事故或疾病而导致扁桃核受损的人似乎在面对危险时也无法感到恐惧。在实验室进行了大量的鼠类研究的纽约大学神经学学家约瑟夫·勒杜指出，至少人类和老鼠的扁桃核“基本上采用了相同的‘布线方式’”。他又补充说，除恐惧外，“有证据表明扁桃核与其他情感也有关系，但是这些证据不像证明扁桃核与恐惧有关的证据那样明确”。

16．动物情感论还得到了最近进行的大脑化学研究的支持。宾夕法尼亚葛底斯堡学院行为神经科学家史蒂文·西维发现，老鼠在玩耍的时候，它的大脑会释放出大量的多巴胺——人类的快乐和兴奋等情感就与这种神经化学物质有关。在一项实验中，西维把一对对的实验鼠放在了特殊的树脂玻璃“房子”中，然后让它们尽情玩耍。一星期后，他又把一只实验鼠单独放在“房子”里，期待着马上就可以再好好地玩上一段时间的实验鼠变得“非常活跃，它不断地发出叫声并且兴奋地来回跑动”。但是当西维给这只实验鼠喂食了一种抑制多巴胺的药物以后，所有的此类活动就全部停止了。神经科学家潘克塞普已经找到证据证明老鼠在玩耍的过程中体内还会产生多种鸦片剂——科学家认为这些化学物质与多巴胺一样也与人类的快乐情绪有关。

17．另一种化学物质荷尔蒙催产素与人类的性活动和母性有关。例如，母亲培育婴儿时体内就会释放出催产素。现在看来这种激素好像对动物之间的相互依恋也有影响，至少在一种与老鼠十分相似的啮齿类动物草原田鼠身上是这样。为了研究催产素对社会依附关系的作用，马里兰大学神经科学家C·休·卡特选择了草原田鼠作为她的研究对象，因为草原田鼠是人们已知的实行“一夫一妻制”的为数不多的几种哺乳动物之一。她发现母鼠一般会花一天的时间从一群热切的公鼠中挑选出一只配偶，但是如果它们在选择配偶之前注射了催产素的话，母鼠的择偶时间就会缩短为一小时——而且常常会选择它们看见的第一只公鼠。然而，如果母鼠服食了催产素抑制药物，那么不论有多少时间它们也不会选择配偶。卡特由此得出结论认为，雌雄田鼠之间亲密关系的形成至少部分原因是催产素，这种激素可以导致田鼠做出与“坠入爱河”的人非常相似的举动。

18．但是这真是爱情吗？曾经对生活在阿根廷附近海域里的“多情”的露脊鲸进行过观察的得克萨斯农业和机械大学生物学家贝恩德·伍尔西格指出，作为一名科学家，“我很可能应该将露脊鲸的行为仅仅称作是“选择性的交配策略” 的一个例子”。但是他仍然认为露脊鲸之所以会有这种行为表现也有可能是因为“它们相互之间‘情投意合’”。

19．对动物情感论持怀疑态度的人仍然坚持自己的看法。《情感大脑》一书的作者，神经科学家勒杜指出：“鲸也许会做出好像他们正在恋爱的举动，但是你无法证明它的内心感受，即使鲸有这种感受的话。”他认为动物情感问题归根到底就是动物是否有意识的问题。他说虽然动物“会有点滴的自我意识，但是我们所称的意识图像是没有的。” 威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的神经科学家理查德·戴维森认为，类人猿和黑猩猩等比较高级的灵长类动物是迄今为止唯一已经表明出自我意识的动物。但是，他仍然认为还有其他一些动物“也许至少拥有情感的前身”。

20．贝科夫和他的同事认为可能还不止如此。他们最令人信服的论点也许是从已经为各学派的生物学家所普遍接受的进化论中推导出来的。神经科学家西维根据人脑与其他动物大脑在解剖结构和化学构成方面存在的相似之处提出了这样一个问题：“如果你认为生物可以通过自然选择不断进化，那你怎么能够相信人类在进化的过程中出乎意外地突然出现了感情呢？”古多尔认为，那些先通过动物来研究人类的大脑，然后又否认动物有感情的科学家的想法是“不合逻辑的”。

21．最后，动物有没有情感到底有什么重要性呢？许多科学家认为解决动物情感争论的意义也许远比一种学术活动重要得多。如果动物确实有各种各样的情感，那么它将对人与动物今后会怎样互动产生意义深远的影响。举例来说，贝科夫就希望对动物的感情了解得更多将促使人类在对待动物（不论是在动物园和马戏团还是在农场和后院）上有更严厉的规定。

22．但是如果人类和其他动物的感情生活之间存在着延续性，那么科学家应该把人与动物的分界线划在什么地方呢？魁北克拉瓦尔大学生理学家米歇尔·卡巴纳克认为，当动物开始体验身上的快乐和不快时意识就产生了。在以鬣蜥为研究对象的实验中，他发现这种动物表现出哺乳动物快乐时的生理变化——体温升高和心跳加快——但是青蛙和鱼却没有类似的变化。他提出，情感的进化发生在第一批两栖动物与爬行动物出现之间的某个时期。但即使是非常热衷于动物情感的人，也不会把情感与处于食物链最末端的生物联系起来。贝科夫指出：“我们不会谈论嫉妒的海绵和尴尬的蚊子。”