Hobbies And Interests
History
On the basis that animals do not "talk," historically, scientists believed animals feel no emotions. However, Charles Darwin in his book "The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals" observed that animals feel joy, affection, excitement, sadness, anger and fear and meticulously documented the evidence. In the following century, Jane Goodall's observations of chimpanzees showed animals were emotionally similar to humans. The animal welfare organization, Compassion in World Farming, believes that studying animals' emotions is an exciting frontier of modern science. They believe animals feel empathy and can experience depression and stress.
Similarities
Jane Goodall discovered that, like humans, chimpanzees communicate emotion through vocalization, facial expression, body language and touch. She identified hoots signifying enjoyment, excitement, fear, distress, anger and puzzlement. Goodall also found chimps could be altruistic -- forming friendships or rearing orphans as their own -- or violently aggressive -- waging "war" against each other. In 2008 gorillas at Munster zoo appeared to exhibit grief at bereavement. According to scientists at Britain's Portsmouth University, primates laugh, and baby chimps' faces express as many different emotions as human babies. Even rodents have been shown in experiments to demonstrate empathy. Dr. Nathan Emery, a Cambridge University zoologist believes birds of the crow family (corvids, especially ravens) rival the apes in their degree and range of emotions.
Direct Comparisons
Biologist Mark Bekoff believes he has witnessed grief and empathy in animals from elephants to birds. Bekoff famously reported witnessing a "magpie funeral," in which fellow magpies covered the deceased with grass tributes and appeared to hold a moment's silence. Desmond Morris observed comparative emotional expressions across the spectrum of animals and humans. Whereas canines express submission by lying on their backs, exposing their bellies, Morris observed low-status people from Southern India offering up their bowed heads to be ritually stepped on by higher-status persons.
Major Differences
A difference Morris observed was that human body language is more complex. Identical gestures express disparate meanings in different cultures, leading to offence or confusion. Unlike other animals, humans can express emotion through speech, but gestures are faster, more emphatic and are understood from a distance. Human brains are complex, meaning we have a great range of emotional subtlety to convey. There are physical reasons, however, why human expressions are more complex than those of other animals. We have mobile digits and are bipedal -- standing on our legs leaves arms free to express emotion. Morris observed that even our expressive relatives, the chimpanzees, cannot use their hands to express emotion, because these are needed for locomotion. Angry fists, pointing fingers or imploring hands reveal our emotional states in ways not open to any other animal.