23rd May 2009

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Do animals have morals?

A bold new book argues that animals can exhibit empathy and understand the moral codes of right and wrong.

In “Wild Justice” (out May 30), Marc Bekoff, an ecologist at the University of Colorado, Boulder, presents a case that species from mice to monkeys possess the tools to make moral judgments.

He presents examples in which animals from around the world appear to have displayed an innate sense of fairness, or have helped animals that are in distress. And, he says, the bonds of animal morality can extend across species.

“There are cases of dolphins helping humans escape from sharks,” he says, “and elephants that have helped antelope escape from enclosures.”

Bekoff’s ideas have met with skepticism from the scientific community, says the London Telegraph, but fellow researchers admit that animals share neurological characteristics that were once solely attributed to humans.

For instance, whales including humpbacks (above) have all been found to have spindle cells in their brains – large, specialized cells that play a role in human empathy and understanding the feelings of others. (See the Telegraph article for Bekoff’s examples involving wolves, coyotes, elephants, Diana monkeys, chimps, rats, mice and bats.)

Tags wolvescoyoteselephantschimpanzeesmonkeysratsmicebatspsychologyscientistsdiscoveries