[Taxacom] empathy in animals

Wed Jan 8 20:54:46 CST 2020

Hi All,
       I was not surprised that dolphins can exhibit empathy.  However, I was a little surprised that humpback whales have also been observed seeming to show empathy in saving the lives of other species (from killer whale attacks).   Or do humpback whales just hate killer whales so much that they want to try to help keep such food items from their enemies?   Or perhaps it is a combination of both.
                          ------------Ken Kinman

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/what-humpback-whales-teach-us-compassion-180964545/

https://www.hakaimagazine.com/news/killer-whales-are-bullies-and-humpbacks-are-bouncers/?xid=PS_smithsonian

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/mms.12343?campaign=wolearlyview

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/11445506_Social_structure_in_migrating_humpback_whales_Megaptera_novaeangliae

________________________________
From: Kenneth Kinman <kinman at hotmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 25, 2019 6:01 PM
To: taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Cc: Kenneth Kinman <kinman at hotmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] empathy in animals

      Here are weblinks to two papers about empathy in zebra finches (which like many parrots, are a very social bird species).  The third (an older article) is about empathic learning in ducks, but is "empathic learning" in animals just a misnomer for "observational learning"?
      I'm still trying to find any literature demonstrating empathy in reptiles (although I would guess that dinosaur mothers probably had some degree of empathy with their offspring).  But I wasn't really expecting to find much evidence of empathy in reptiles (except for maternal care in crocodilians).
                         -----------------Ken

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/350/6266/1328.3

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347205803896

https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/281962?journalCode=an

________________________________
From: Taxacom <taxacom-bounces at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> on behalf of John Grehan via Taxacom <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, December 25, 2019 11:33 AM
To: Frederick W. Schueler <bckcdb at istar.ca>
Cc: taxacom <taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu>
Subject: Re: [Taxacom] empathy in animals

Loved Fred's philosophy of life (not only for Raven's). Seems that Ken's
question about empathy in other animals has been a long-standing question
(at least my impression) and very problematic to assess in the absence of
direct communication. Hard enough to see empathy in humans a lot of the
time. Empathy for members of one's family, tribe, ethnic group or
nationality etc may go alongside a complete lack of empathy for members of
the outgroup (i.e. everyone else). History is full of tears shed for one's
ingroup only. Seems that empathy is prone to be selective in humans, so one
might extend that question as to whether empathy in other animals, if
present, is also selective.

John Grehan

On Wed, Dec 25, 2019 at 11:12 AM Frederick W. Schueler via Taxacom <
taxacom at mailman.nhm.ku.edu> wrote:

> On 25-Dec.-19 10:38 a.m., Kenneth Kinman via Taxacom wrote:
>
> >  In this brief time of celebration and people trying to put aside bad
> emotions for a while, I was thinking about empathy in other animal
> species.  It is certainly now recognized that many social mammals can
> exhibit empathy (elephants, many primates, social carnivores, etc.), but is
> empathy as common in birds (parrots are a familiar example).  And if so,
> did some dinosaurs exhibit some empathy (beyond relationships with their
> offspring and other family group members)?  I can't think of any other
> reptiles that might exhibit empathy (I wouldn't think that the reptile
> brain probably has much capacity for empathy).
> >         I was also trying to think of any invertebrates that might have
> some capacity for empathy.   The only possible example I could think of was
> the octopus (or other cephalopods).  Very intelligent, but are they social
> enough to exhibit much empathy?   I guess it depends on how broadly one
> defines empathy.
>
> * lots of things are coming out about Corvids. Here's a report on
> empathy among Ravens: 30 June 2015 - Canada: New Brunswick:
> Northumberland County: Grand Lodge, Popple Depot. (100m site), 21O/7,
> 47.39900° N 66.51330° W TIME: 1040. AIR TEMP: circa 16°C, light
> overcast, breezy. HABITAT: riverside lawn-surrounded lodge. OBSERVER:
> Frederick W. Schueler, Aleta Karstad Schueler. 2015/180/z, Corvus corax
> (Raven) (Bird). 2 adult, juvenile, heard, seen, poem. juvenile calls
> from one flying by, adult calls from across river.
>
> "I'm starving!" is the baby Raven's only form of speech
> "Grk, over here," the parent says, "there's food down on the beach."
> "I cannot leave this tree - groawrrrrk - it would be too much trouble."
> "O, little one you cannot live your life within a bubble."
>
> "Scholarly tones and song" the Raven says onto his wife
> "Are surely interrupted by this reproductive strife."
> "Wait until September, dear, when we'll fly upside down,
> and say 'gluk' to each other in the Pine tree's topmost crown."
>
> seasonally,
>
> fred.
> ------------------------------------------------------------
>           Frederick W. Schueler & Aleta Karstad
>           Fragile Inheritance Natural History
> Mudpuppy Night in Oxford Mills - https://www.facebook.com/MudpuppyNight/
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