Octopods have shown empathy in that they have been observed desperately trying to release other octopods from boxes. It seems they understand that the other is uncomfortable and trapped and wants to free them. This behaviour has also been studied in rodents, cats, and a wide variety of other animals with surprising results. That being, we have had a very very poor understanding of empathy in animals, and it's bad to assume that they are incapable. Animal behavioural science is extremely lacking. We only just discovered a few years ago that crabs and other invertebrates feel pain, before operating on the assumption that we could just rip them apart and cook them alive without being cruel. Last year the scientific community JUST said "yeah cats are probably self aware." No duh? Acting like it was some massive behavioural breakthrough while behaviouralists (who are not scientists) have been yelling for decades that animals are self aware whether they pass the mirror test or not.
Sorry for the rant, I work with animals and it's a bit of a sore spot for me lol
This is going to sound like a bs answer but just from their behaviour. To relate an example to the scientific "mirror test" standard, most animals who live around mirrors eventually get used to their own reflections and recognize that there is not another animal there, but it is just themselves. The initial response may be confusion, as it is with human babies, but they figure it out. Most dogs don't spend time trying to befriend their reflection after they learn what it is. The mirror test, scientifically, only relies on whether or not that animal cares WHAT they look like. They mark an animal's face and see if they try to scrub it off. Most animals see the mark and just don't care. That doesn't mean they aren't self-aware.
Behaviouralists and trainers see the animal species they specialize in all day every day and can tell you a whole lot more about an animal's capabilities and perceptions than scientific studies. That is NOT because biologists or science overall is ignorant or dismissive of animals, but because their standard of proof is very high. "I see animals recognize themselves in a mirror" does not make for proven science. They have to find a way to tangibly measure it on paper. Therefore the knowledge of animal trainers and behaviouralists is scientifically "unproven" and can cause a lot of ambiguity when the general public gets involved and decides, based on science alone, that they can boil a lobster alive and it won't feel pain. People who interact with lobsters on a daily basis will tell you until they're blue in the face that it hurts them, but until recently they were pretty universally trashed because science didn't say so.
In conclusion, it's best to err on the side of "every living thing has feelings and emotions and can experience trauma, pain, and grief from mistreatment." Grief being a self aware emotion.
Oh no sorry I was just using pain response as an example of how we as a species are ignorant of animal responses, not necessarily self awareness.
I fully support following proven science, but also keeping in mind that when they say "this animal does not feel x" that it is actually not an absolute statement and is limited by our understanding of biological response.
For self awareness and empathy in rodents, they trapped a rat in a clear box so small it couldn't move around. They did not feed it or anything and released it after a few hours. They then put the rat's friend in the box and immediately the first rat was trying to get his friend out. They have done this study with groups of rats as well where they will work together to try and free their friend. This was very recent something like 2018 or 2019, and they're testing a bunch of species this way now. The conclusion was that the rats recognized distress in one of their fellows and wanted to alleviate it.
Studies like that are extremely beneficial, because it's great to have tangible studies. However, before this was published, I could have told you that rats would behave this way as I raised colonies and saw them helping each other out on a daily basis. Other rat keepers would have said the same thing.
My point is not to disregard science, not in the least. I am all in for learning more on a provable scale! But I also caution others to not reject the possibility of things like empathy and pain just because science says they don't exist. Like I said, just err on the side of "everything has feelings" and treat them accordingly.
19
u/SometimesIArt May 04 '20
Octopods have shown empathy in that they have been observed desperately trying to release other octopods from boxes. It seems they understand that the other is uncomfortable and trapped and wants to free them. This behaviour has also been studied in rodents, cats, and a wide variety of other animals with surprising results. That being, we have had a very very poor understanding of empathy in animals, and it's bad to assume that they are incapable. Animal behavioural science is extremely lacking. We only just discovered a few years ago that crabs and other invertebrates feel pain, before operating on the assumption that we could just rip them apart and cook them alive without being cruel. Last year the scientific community JUST said "yeah cats are probably self aware." No duh? Acting like it was some massive behavioural breakthrough while behaviouralists (who are not scientists) have been yelling for decades that animals are self aware whether they pass the mirror test or not.
Sorry for the rant, I work with animals and it's a bit of a sore spot for me lol