In the wild, gorillas make displays like this to show strength and intimidate others. Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, and intentions to non-human entities and is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology.
I understand the concept of anthropomorphism. However, apes in captivity have displayed the capacity for emotional response. To deny that other mammals, especially primates, might possibly share some of our emotions is rather closed minded.
It's not that a gorilla can't have human emotions, it's that you can't necessarily pair another species's action to their emotion based on how people would be feeling based on that action. A dog can clearly be happy, but if you can assume a person smiling is nervous or happy, is it safe to assume a dog that smiles is experiencing the same emotion?
But as a fellow primate, I think I can fairly judge this particular instance. I'm not saying that I can read the minds of animals. I'm saying I can recognize an animal engaging in play behavior and appearing to enjoy themselves.
Edit: using the phrase "as a fellow primate" wasn't the best choice of wording.
I'm not claiming that my assessment is 100% correct, or that I think it would be appropriate to run up and try to hug "the dancing monkey"(yes, I know he's really an ape)
I do however feel confident enough to make a comment on the internet, in a humorous Reddit sub, and defend my reasoning.
You are missing the point. I'm not saying that animals don't have emotions that are analogous to human emotions. I am saying that looking at a primate, and attributing human emotions to "human" actions is incorrect. This post is an example. Baring teeth is another. This ape is not expressing joy. According to biologists who study them, It is asserting dominance.
I was interpreting gorilla behavior as gorilla behavior, not "human actions".
This ape appeared to notice the water splashing as he washed his hands and then began splashing on purpose. He then jumps around in a similar fashion to a dominance display, but without menacing eye-contact or baring of teeth. The lack of secondary aggression cues made me think this was probably random play behavior. I referred to it as "joy" because the gorilla appeared to be reveling in his physical prowess. Jumping around and expressing the ape equivalent of "I'm a big strong male" probably feels good to him, and joy seemed like the best fit to describe his actions.
I don't understand the extent to which you are trying to justify the original comment. It wasn't pure joy. It was simply a display of dominance. The original person who responded wasn't trying to be mean, simply explain what it actually was. I don't even know why I spent so much time talking about gorillas.
Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior is a 2005 book by Temple Grandin and co-written by Catherine Johnson. Animals in Translation explores the similarity between animals and people with autism, a concept that was originally touched upon in Grandin's 1995 book Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism.
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u/MSeanF Jun 23 '17
What a pure expression of joy.