The Human in Animals

Did you see that news on television about a research that showed animals laugh? Several animals were used in the study. Among them were orang-utans, penguins and dogs. These animals were tickled and the study reported that there were concrete evidences that they laughed.
I imagine that it was not too difficult to conduct the study with dogs. This man’s best friend really frolics and is embraced by their owners. Some people prefer to have dogs rather than children. Many old people live alone with dogs for company. We have seen dogs’ photos expressing the same emotions that humans feel – happiness, sadness, anger, fear. We have heard of stories of dogs that never left their masters even in danger. They were found beside their dead masters’ bodies, either very quiet or making some pitiful sounds.
But how about orang-utans, penguins and other wild animals? The researcher must have employed some animal trainers or experts who are quite familiar with the habits of these wild animals to approach and tickle them which was the technique used to determine if they can laugh. Or probably the animals used were born in captivity and are used to people around them.
At any rate, the researcher reached the conclusion that animals like human beings, can laugh, I just wonder how different or similar their laughs are, and I imagine it depends on the sounds they make. Or is it determined by the parts of bodies affected. How about the “laughing hyena? Is it laughing when it makes that sound that got its name or is it some other signal?
Whatever sounds an animal makes, it is a proof that they like us human beings, and have a language of their own. They have a language for each of the emotions (and body languages too). We know if our cat or dog is angry or sad, or afraid. Even their eyes and tails express their feelings. And like the way we are sensitive to feelings of our fellow human beings, we are also aware of how our pets feel.
Psychologist and psychiatrists, as well as other experts on human behaviour say that one sign of criminal tendencies in human beings that can be identified in an early age is the way they treat animals. Cruelty to their pets and other animals they may get their hands on is a warning that these people may later become problems in our society.
It is a fact accepted by most that man belongs to the animal kingdom. There are some who do not (or are reluctant to) accept this classification because it does not support their religious beliefs.
Aside from the ability to laugh, how are animals similar to us human beings?
Have you been to a dog show? Have you noticed how each particular dog walks? Don’t they match the walk of their masters that lead them? Are you not amazed by how they obey the little signals given to them on when to sit, to walk fast or slow, or to turn? And their grooming, don’t master and pet have similar tastes? Have you compared the cute poodle with the German shepherd or the boxer? How about their masters; aren’t the differences among these dog species similar to those of their caretakers?
When I was a child, we had a neighbour whom children in the area were afraid of. He was the richest man in that part of town and he owned most of the land where the houses stood. He had a rent collector who went to the houses every month to receive the rental payment. He lived in a house with iron fences and locked gates. We were not afraid of him, alone. We were scared of his pit bulls that roamed his yard and would bark ominously at anyone peeping through the rails of the fences.
I can keep on and on talking of the human capacities of dongs but how about other animals?
There is the horse, man’s companion in peace as well as in war. It is another animal that can develop a close affinity to man. There had been cases of men lost in the wilderness and were found because their horses led the rescue team to them.
I have great admiration for people who could make wild animals respond to their kindness and become comfortable with them. Zookeepers and animal show trainers are among them. Some forest wardens have the same talents or shall we say a special instinct to help them understand these creatures.
As is often said, man is different from lower forms of animals in the kind of brains that we possess. It is what makes up that brain, not the size. There are larger brains like those of elephants and other humungous animals but they are not like the human brain. It is the human brain that had been in close relationship with lower animals that had lent those human characteristics in them. A human being with compassion, sensitivity, kindness, patience and intelligence can no doubt, with the person’s interest, lend some of his traits to an animal he takes care of. A cruel, insensitive, powerful individual can transfer the same traits to a lower form of animal.
Civilization has carved man as he is now. Individualities exist because of inherited traits that man possesses. So are the lower forms of animals. Their inherited traits as well as their environment make them what they are. Some animals that have more well-developed brains than others are more capable of acquiring human characteristics.