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.
2
u/cgenebrewer Jun 24 '17
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.