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THE KEEPERS OF THE WILD NON-PROFIT NATURE PARK
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This webpage was last updated on 11/29/2007
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In a more personal experience, here at Keepers of the Wild, when Sheena the lion had a stroke and was having difficulty walking across her habitat to get to her food at feeding, her habitat-mate Elvis would walk beside her and bump her shoulder with his to keep her from stumbling sideways or falling.  Now that's love......right?

In fact, there are so many examples of animal emotional behavior that it is hard to believe otherwise. In a Kenyan elephant orphanage, baby elephants who have seen their parents slaughtered and their tusks removed from their bodies by poachers, wake up screaming in the night as they dream of the trauma.

Evidence shows that animals may blush, wage war, exact revenge and experience beauty. They, too, have - forgive the pun - pet peeves. Giraffes, for instance seem to dislike cars. They have been known to kick and turn cars over when the vehicles would honk or flash their headlights at them.

There are dozens of examples of animals taking
pride in their performance at work.

Ola, the whale, performed in an oceanarium and became deeply irritated by a booby bird which landed next to its tank at show time. Ola first stuck his head out of the water and glared at the bird, when it didn't move, he leaped out of the water with jaws agape. The booby just stared back. Clearly jealous at all the attention that bird was getting, Ola dove deep, took a mouthful of water and squirted it directly at the booby. The drenched bird staggered backward and finally took off as the audience burst into laughter.

The life of a fox, which had a thorn in its paw, was saved by a dominant vixen in the group. The injured fox couldn't hunt, but the vixen brought him food until the injury healed. Its appreciation was in its body language as it rubbed and licked the food supplier.

Toto, a captive chimpanzee, is credited with nursing its owner, Cherry Kearton, back to health from malaria. Kearton describes how the chimp brought quinine and a glass when asked, and even took Kearton's boots off when she slipped into a coma.

Many biologists say they read and understand animal body language almost as though it were spoken. Animals, in turn use body language as communication. They also claim there is cruelty and war in the animal kingdom in battles over territory. Mongooses have been known to mutilate each other, as have hyenas. Rape was observed in orangutans, dolphins, seals, bighorn sheep, wild horses and some birds.

There have also been many incidents of remarkable compassion, such as the case of a young rhino stuck in deep mud, hours later an adult elephant saw its plight and knelt to put its tusks under the calf and begun to lift the young rhino to its safety.

Experts give startling glimpses of animals simply enjoying themselves. North Amercian Bison in Alaska like to ice skate, and bears slide along the snow banks with otters! For years officials were baffled by the gold leaf disappearing from the Kremlin's onion domes. It was finally attributed to crows who enjoyed sliding down the domes; their claws scratched the gold leaf.

"It looks like we have to make man understand he is only
one member of an enormous family.
"

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BACK TO WILD FACTS ]

For more than 100 years a great chasm has separated animal lovers - who know their pets have complex emotional lives - and scientists who declare that to attribute emotion to animals is no more than sentimental ignorance

But the chasm is being bridged by mounting evidence that there is fear, jealousy, hope, anger and even compassion in the animal world.

Now, for the first time, the many case histories that support this belief - backed by professional research - show that the mystical world of Dr. Doolittle may really exist and that we are simply unable to see it because we can't communicate with animals.

Do Animals Have Emotions?