Ethology: Intelligence & Emotions

Animal ethology is an area of human-animal interactions that is complicated to understand. As human beings we see ourselves as higher over other non-human animals. We often believe that we are the most intelligent species that is on this Earth. However, studies have shown that there are animals that can complete complex tasks that humans cannot. The elephant is one of those animals who can challenge human intelligence. Elephants have the capability to remember information for long periods of time. They also have the ability to build tools, self-medicate during labor, and solve problems.

Animal emotions is another topic that can be problematic when studying the human-animal bond. Studying animal emotions is not supported by the scientific community because it is deemed unscientific to anthropomorphize an animal. Anthropomorphism is attributing human characteristics to non human animals and objects. Although scientists do not believe that animals can display emotions it has been revealed countless times that elephants are capable of displaying a range of emotions. This includes primary emotions such as joy, fear, anger, and sadness as well as secondary emotions such as love, guilt and mourning.

This video displays an Emotional Reunion between a mother and her baby after her baby was rescued from a water hole. In this video you notice the fear the mother had as she tried to rescue her baby, sadness the mother felt since she could not help, and the joy and love they both felt once the baby was safe. This next video will show two elephants Jenny and Shirley who were reunited after twenty years. In this video you can see an elephant’s memory is very strong. It was a very joyful and emotional reunion between two friends who had performed together over twenty years ago. From these two videos it is safe to say that animals do feel both primary emotions contrary to what scientist believe.

Ref:

"Elephant Intelligence." Elephants Forever - A Study Of Elephants. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Sept. 2013. http://www.elephantsforever.co.za/elephant-intelligence.html.

"Elephant Emotion – Joy." Elephants Forever - A Study Of Elephants. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. http://www.elephantsforever.co.za/elephant-emotion-joy.html.

"Amazing Baby Elephant Rescue + Emotional Reunion with Mother! - YouTube." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. http://youtu.be/bYlZqiEfUX4.

"Shirley and Jenny: Two Elephants Reunited After More Than 20 Years - YouTube." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Sept. 2013. <http://youtu.be/lF8em4uPdCg?t=3m34s>.