For our special Christmas day post, we found a rather lovely fact about Japanese Macaque monkeys….
Young Macaques have been seen to make and throw snowballs, just like people do! Scientists could find no reason why they would do this, other than simply because it is fun!
Not only that, but back in the 1960s, these Japanese Macaques saw their human counterparts bathing in hot springs, and must have decided that this was a great idea. In the freezing temperatures they endure, a hot tub seems to be a relaxing and enjoyable social occasion.
Just another little similarity between different species – it seems many like to have fun, whether we have fur, feathers or plain old human clothes…
Wishing you a Compassionate Christmas!
Sources:
Uhlenbrook, C. (2008) Animal life the definitive visual guide to animals and their behaviour, Dorling Kindersley, London. Primate Info Net (2009) [accessed 24 December 09)
BBC Worldwide, Monkeys Relaxing
This is the incredible story of a whale rescue and the response of the whale to her rescuers.
The humpback whale was on the migratory route around the California coast when she became terribly entangled in crab trap lines. Her life was at great risk.
She was tangled up in weighted ropes up to 240 feet long around her tail, her flipper and even in her mouth. The ropes were so tight they cut into her blubber and caused visible wounds. She was completely helpless and the weight of the traps was causing her to struggle to keep her blow hole out of the sea.
A rescue team of divers went out to her but she was in such a state they were unsure that they stood any chance of saving her. They were at risk themselves, as the flick of a humpback’s tail can kill a human.
But they reported that as they worked to free the unfortunate creature, she did not struggle at all and they were aware of her eyes simply following them around as they worked.
Thankfully, the rescuers were successful but must have been astonished by the whale’s heartwarming response. When she felt herself come free, she began to swim around in circles and then went up to each diver one by one and nudged them. One of the rescuers is reported as saying: “It seemed kind of affectionate, like a dog that’s happy to see you … I never felt threatened. It was an amazing, unbelievable experience.”
Her response makes us think about the common ground that humans can have with animals who might appear so very different from us. A whale-watching expert who helped co-ordinate the rescue is quoted as saying: “You hate to anthropomorphize too much but the whale was doing little dives and the guys were rubbing shoulders with it … I don’t know for sure what it was thinking, but it’s something that I will always remember. It was just too cool.”
An interesting point about our understanding of these large sea mammals was made by Gould and Gould in their book ‘The Animal Mind’. They suggest that perhaps we have been quicker to appreciate the intelligence and sentience of primates as they are so much more similar to us in their gestures and experiences, and therefore easier for us to read. We may have been slower to understand the complexity and richness of underwater creatures simply because they appear to be so very different to us.
The veined octopus is a truly amazing underwater character. Researchers in Melbourne have discovered that they get up to some surprising antics – using coconut shells.
These octopi collect coconut shells discarded by their human neighbours, gather them under their body and then carry them and walk, rather awkwardly, for up to 20m at a time. The scientists dubbed this as ‘stilt-walking’ due to the unusual way the octopus has to use its legs whilst carrying the shells.
The octopus goes to this considerable effort so he or she has portable ‘armour’. If suddenly under threat the octopus could create instant camouflage and protection by climbing in between two coconut halves.
This is really significant, as use of tools by animals is said to be a sign of higher mental functioning, as is planning for the future. Some people used to believe that only humans had such advanced abilities, but we increasingly find that other animals have so many unsuspected abilities – including a mind of their own. (see Rooks, Pigs).
Here is another shining example of amazing animals and a valuable reminder that animals can have many hidden abilities that we are yet to notice and appreciate.
Horses have played a huge part in our lives for hundreds of years. Yet how much do we actually know about them?
Animal welfare consultant Heather Pickett has written a special article for our animal sentience pages. It’s a fascinating read about horses’ behaviour, cognitive abilities (such as ‘thinking’) and welfare needs. Horses have remarkably complex social lives; with membership of a herd being of ultimate importance to them and sometimes roaming for up to 80km in one day. They are great diplomats, able to resolve many conflicts in order to keep the herd together.
Self reflection. Copyright Compassion/ Ed Posposil
Mares often form lifetime relationships, spending most of their time together. Their foals often become good friends too as a result. They have remarkable memory skills and have even been shown to understand that a 3-D image can be shown in a photograph. For example, horses had been trained to have a ‘favourite’ object (for example a soft toy or a frisbee), using treats as positive reinforcement. Then they were shown photos of a range of things, including their ‘favoured toy’, and more often than not they would choose the photo of that toy. In a similar experiment (Stone 2009), horses were found to be able to tell the difference between photos of people, even identical twins!
Domesticated horses are often kept stabled alone and fed on concentrated food that is eaten quickly, rather than grazing the whole day as they would do in more natural conditions. These factors sometimes lead to destructive behaviours such as weaving, biting the stable doors and pacing. The occurrence of these unnatural behaviours illustrates that horses, just like many other animals, need an environment that more closely fits their needs and fully takes into account their sentience and intelligence.
Fishcount.org.uk is an engaging new website created to increase awareness of the plight of fish caught for food, and to promote workable solutions for the future.
It is estimated that approximately 1-3 trillion fish are caught every year. The methods used in most fishing ventures have the potential to cause profound distress to fish and therefore more humane alternatives are proposed.
Fish farming is on the increase. Given that conditions for farmed fish too often cause suffering, it is essential that such systems are designed to pay full regard to the welfare of fish.
The evidence for fish sentience draws on wide and varied sources, from scientific studies to a really interesting film of Comet the goldfish (see clip below) who has learned to perform tricks. He can play football, fetch hoops just like a dog, swim through a tunnel or a slalom…the list goes on!
We are given a deep insight into the experience of caught fish and shown the welfare shortfalls in modern fishing techniques. These include rapid and damaging decompression when pulled in trawl nets from deep in the sea, which often results in the rupture of internal organs; being left to suffocate on ice until they die; and in the case of long line fishing they sometimes hang for days before they are ‘landed’, condemning them to a slow death and vulnerable to attack by predators. We can see how much distress these experiences could cause to a sentient being.
Some people have traditionally thought that fish do not suffer pain and distress in that the same way as land-based animals and humans. But increasingly, science now suggests that this is not the case, and that fish and indeed other underwater creatures such as crabs have the potential for pain and emotional experiences, just as we do. This clearly has enormous implications for the treatment of the fish that are caught for our tables. Fishing techniques to date have only focused on speed and quantity of catching , and have not considered the suffering of those creatures who are caught.
Fish farming is on the increase. Given that conditions for farmed fish too often cause suffering, it is essential that such systems are designed to pay full regard to the welfare of fish. Fish are amazing animals with intrinsic value, and with our increasing understanding of their sentience, change is urgently needed.
Following on from our post on the 6th November about Jasmine and Alfie, here are two more stories about care of young animals by other animals. This time it’s the turn of the grandmothers to teach us a thing or two about caring for animals. One of Compassion in World Farming’s supporters kindly supplied us with this story. Her neighbour gave a home to two generations of goats. When the youngest had her goat kid, she didn’t seem to know what to do. Even though the goat kid was repeatedly shown where to suckle, the two just didn’t seem to connect.
The grandmother saw what was happening and stepped in to help, even producing milk for the youngster. From then on she took it in turns with the mother to care for the kid, being there to support the mother goat and also ensure the kid had plenty of food.
Across the generations
Another example of grandmothers helping out was in the news last week. Researchers in Japan had been observing free-ranging macaque family groups when they noticed some interesting situations. A grandmother macaque took over the care of her grandchild when the mother disappeared; carrying, grooming and allowing her to suckle, although the researchers believe she didn’t produce any milk. Perhaps letting the baby macaque suckle may have been an act of reassurance for the youngster.
When the mother returned after a period of time (believed to be 6-14 days) she resumed her duties in caring for the youngster. Another grandmother was witnessed ‘sharing care’ with a struggling mother, and this time was believed to be producing milk as well.
A key feature in all of these stories is the fact that the grandmother was prepared to get involved quickly if needed, but was not overly possessive of the youngster. In both cases they seemed happy to share care with the mother, or hand the infant back when their job was done. This shows sensitivity to the needs of the situation, and more flexible thinking than if they were to simply ‘take over’ an abandoned youngster.
