Imagine, like Dr Doolittle, we could talk to the animals. We would no longer have to try and figure out what they were thinking or feeling; we’d be able to get the information first-hand. But then do animals really feel emotion, or is it pure anthropomorphism on our part – a wish to see human behavior and characteristics where they don’t necessarily exist?
Yet, when you see the helplessness in abused animals, the intense sadness of a mother gorilla that has recently lost her baby or the abandoned joy of a dog simply running after a stick – how can we say animals don’t feel? It would be arrogant to believe that humans are the only species capable of emotion. These images below show that we’re not so different really, them and us.
