Animal Emotions

[The Hammer]

Humans can tell by chickens’ calls if they are happy or frustrated, research finds

Recent research has found that even with little or no experience with chickens, that humans have an innate ability to understand the emotional states of an animal based off of it's vocalizing.

"Scientists played audio recordings of hens to nearly 200 volunteers and found that 69% could tell the difference between birds that were happy about an imminent treat and those that were annoyed that no such reward was forthcoming."

"The findings build on recent research that suggests humans around the world can interpret emotions in the calls of a vast range of animals from tree frogs and alligators to ravens and giant pandas. The results have led scientists to suspect that terrestrial vertebrates share an emotional vocal signalling system, in line with Darwin’s thinking."

I would say anyone who has spent any amount of actual attentive care towards animals, would agree that we have the ability to understand their emotions, even if we don't share the same language and communication abilities.

Have you had any experience with understanding the emotions of another species? Was it verbal cues that ripped you off? Or something else behaviourally?

I have definitely had moments where I e known what it is my animals were thinking of feeling, my cats are especially expressive.

 

[JustGeorge]

Kore is rude. Really rude.

VVe'll have company, and she'll come into the room, look at them, look at me and its almost like I can hear her passive aggressive self saying "did you bring this trash in intentionally, or did it sneak in the back door vvith Troy?"

Others have gotten the same 'gist' of her 'looks'.

She's really loving vvith family, though, and friends that have proven to be 'okay' over time(time seems to be the trick).

 

[The Hammer]

Kore is rude. Really rude.

VVe'll have company, and she'll come into the room, look at them, look at me and its almost like I can hear her passive aggressive self saying "did you bring this trash in intentionally, or did it sneak in the back door vvith Troy?"

Others have gotten the same 'gist' of her 'looks'.

She's really loving vvith family, though, and friends that have proven to be 'okay' over time(time seems to be the trick).

I've got a rude boy, but he has been warming up to company lately.

He doesn't know how to play fight either, so he goes to far and ends up a bully.

He is aloof mostly, but then gets "aggressive" for cuddles, throwing himself into your lap, pushing whatever you're doing out of your hands/lap/view.

 

[Secret Chief]

Kore is rude. Really rude.

VVe'll have company, and she'll come into the room, look at them, look at me and its almost like I can hear her passive aggressive self saying "did you bring this trash in intentionally, or did it sneak in the back door vvith Troy?"

Others have gotten the same 'gist' of her 'looks'.

She's really loving vvith family, though, and friends that have proven to be 'okay' over time(time seems to be the trick).

There was a person round once who was petrified of cats, so the lad was put outside for the duration of the visit. Unfortunately she made the mistake of sitting in his seat, which was in line of sight of the window ledge. He promptly sat on it and looked in. Bearing in mind the person avoided cats she fully understood the death stare she found herself on the receiving end of. "What's up with him?! Look at his face!" Fortunately there was a pane of glass between the lad and the transgressor.

 

[ChristineM]

Have you had any experience with understanding the emotions of another species? Was it verbal cues that ripped you off? Or something else behaviourally?

The cats, thought quite basic, are quite expressive.

Angel lives like she just got out of the wrong side of the bed, tail swishing, growling at the other cats if they don't give her the respect she deserves. When her tail is not swishing we know she is up to something.

Felu is the timid and quiet one, it he wants something he'll walk past you, round behind and past you again, he'll repeat this until you follow him, he'll head to what he wants then stand there looking at it as if so say i want my food bowl is empty, fill now, or you know i don't like the cat flap so open the door.

Spot, the tiny runt has a meow that could wake the dead, she uses it to tell the world what she's done, example, come and look, I've used the litter tray.

Loki has the eyes. He looks at you and if he is not happy, trust me on this, you stay looked at. I don't know how he gets such expression into those eyes.

And Fluffy, what can i say, I've never seen such a laid back cat, the world could be disintegrating around him, hell look at you as if to say "are you going to do something about that or should i move"

Knowing your animal(s) and their mannerisms and emotions is a huge part of having contented pets

 

[Secret Chief]

The cats, thought quite basic, are quite expressive.

Dogs seem quite obvious in their communication with humans. Cats I'd say are more nuanced, you just need to live with them to tune in to their communication channel. If a stranger walks in they wouldn't be able to "read" the boy, but I know exactly what he's thinking. In fact, I'd say I understand him better than most people.

 

[The Hammer]

Dogs seem quite obvious in their communication with humans.

Dogs also have about 3x the amount of time bonding and co-evolving with us, at about 20k years, vs our feline friends who have only recently domesticated themselves at about 6kya.

Makes sense that we would understand dogs clearer and faster than a cat Cats require us to learn their language, whereas we have developed one with dogs. Why else would they of all animals have expressive eyebrows?

 

[JustGeorge]

Dogs also have about 3x the amount of time bonding and co-evolving with us, at about 20k years, vs our feline friends who have only recently domesticated themselves at about 6kya.

Makes sense that we would understand dogs clearer and faster than a cat Cats require us to learn their language, whereas we have developed one with dogs. Why else would they of all animals have expressive eyebrows?

I guess I've alvvays found cats easier to 'hear' than dogs.

This could be because I've been constantly exposed to cats since birth, though I didn't have a dog in the house until I was 14.

 

[Heyo]

Humans can tell by chickens’ calls if they are happy or frustrated, research finds

Recent research has found that even with little or no experience with chickens, that humans have an innate ability to understand the emotional states of an animal based off of it's vocalizing.

"Scientists played audio recordings of hens to nearly 200 volunteers and found that 69% could tell the difference between birds that were happy about an imminent treat and those that were annoyed that no such reward was forthcoming."

"The findings build on recent research that suggests humans around the world can interpret emotions in the calls of a vast range of animals from tree frogs and alligators to ravens and giant pandas. The results have led scientists to suspect that terrestrial vertebrates share an emotional vocal signalling system, in line with Darwin’s thinking."

I would say anyone who has spent any amount of actual attentive care towards animals, would agree that we have the ability to understand their emotions, even if we don't share the same language and communication abilities.

Have you had any experience with understanding the emotions of another species? Was it verbal cues that ripped you off? Or something else behaviourally?

I have definitely had moments where I e known what it is my animals were thinking of feeling, my cats are especially expressive.

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It makes evolutionary sense to read animals' emotions. It's essential to know whether the sabretooth tiger is just chilling or has hunger or has just signalled you that you are about to trespass on it's territory. "Accidents" with animals are often a result of humans having lost their innate communication skills.

 

[Debater Slayer]

Have you had any experience with understanding the emotions of another species? Was it verbal cues that ripped you off? Or something else behaviourally?

A few years ago, a very human-cautious stray cat would frequently come to our building and pick the trash looking for food. He was wary of me at first and refused to get close unless I shut the door, even when I put food down for him. Looking through the peephole, I would see him eat only after becoming sure that I was no longer around.

This went on for a few weeks, but I noticed that he had started easing up gradually: he got close to the food before I shut the door, and then after a while, he just ate in front of me instead of waiting for me to leave. He still didn't let me touch or get close to him, though.

One day, he finished eating and didn't leave, instead loafing on the doorstep. He meowed at me, which made me assume he was still hungry, so I put down more food for him. He didn't eat, looked at me directly, and meowed again. I put on a plastic glove and petted him, at which point he purred loudly.

I knew that last meow was his call for friendship rather than more food—finally.

 

[Nyingjé Tso]

Well, ferrets aren't known for being very vocal but... They have toddler intelligence and body language, and they know how to use those

Sampoh is born deaf because of genetic defect. So, since ferrets need to be educated (like puppies) it was going to be a problem... Well not at all. Turns out he can learn and understand hands signs. I'm not kidding. since he's a baby he would communicate with us by staring and showing us what he wants. Want a door opened ? Stare at the human and go to the door. Food ? Stare and bring the human to the fridge. Cuddles ? Stomp in front of the human and s t a r e. If he does a bad thing, we show him the "stop" hand sign and he gets it immediately (and go pout in a corner like a grumpy kid). We have the "let's go have a walk outside" sign that makes him go absolutely crazy jumping everywhere and looking for his leash. I could go on forever but there's not a single time where we don't understand what he wants, even tho we don't speak the same language.

I had amazing moments with Skirt too. Little grandma ferret we rescued and spent most of her life either in the streets of in abusive homes. First time we got her home from a hoarder place she was staying at, we threw her in the shower because she was reeking of cat pee. She somehow forgave us and became the real princess of the house, stomping around like she owned the place. Unfortunately she also had a lot of health problems, somehow I could feel when she wasn't okay. I still remember once, she was almost completely limp from an infection and I ran by foot,by train and by bus to get her to the vet. 3 hours travel with her strapped on my chest and being told "we'll try but we don't know if she'll make it". In the train back home I just started crying.
She poked her head out from the bag, crawled on my chest and just let her head rest on my neck. Like she went to hug me. So I hugged her back and promised her I would always do my absolute best for her.
It was like she could understand. Since that day our relationship and understanding of each other was amazing. She trusted me like nobody ever trusted me.
She got to live the best life I could give her, then cancer. In a week she got too weak for doing anything. Had to take the hardest decision but insisted to hold her as she was leaving. I didn't want her to die alone on a vet table. At my worst she hugged me. So I gave her last hug back.

People that say that animals have no emotions or are too stupid to feel or have intelligence obviously never have been close enough to one. I can't explain how it works, but there's a mutual understanding and the trust you end up sharing is like nothing else you will know. When they trust you, it's just pure, unconditional trust. When they love you, it's as pure and unconditional. And they find a way to let you know, even tho we don't speak the same language.