Is there empathy in the animal kingdom?

Many informative portals regarding the animal kingdom sometimes show us behaviors heartbreaking in nature: “a cat tries to wake up his friend after he has been hit by a car". There we see a feline, apparently contrite, trying to revive another cat that is lying in the middle of the street with its paws.

A tear springs from our cheeks, and as they say, "sometimes animals have more feelings than humans." Unfortunately, the scientific evidence still does not fully point to the confirmation of this sentence. The cat may be really sad, or it may be that he is placing his paws on a warm, soft surface to lie down to rest.

Yes. As cruel as it may sound, not all behaviors in nature respond to an act loaded with feeling and content (Moreover, in almost no case is it like that) A cichlid fish does not seem to defend its brood from predators with violence for love: it is a evolutionary mechanism in which the only interest of the animal is to preserve its genes throughout the generations.

Thus, although we are reductionist, biologists are suspicious of the "altruistic" acts of animals and their sentimental displays in many cases. Not because we don't necessarily believe in them, but because, as the principle of parsimony indicates,

sometimes the easiest option to explain is the most likely. A merely evolutionary motor VS a neurological capacity complicated enough to develop complex emotions. Difficult dilemma, right?

After this very extensive but necessary introduction, we do not delay any longer: Is there empathy in the animal kingdom? We try to give you the answer.

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Is there empathy in the animal kingdom?: a difficult-to-answer dilemma

Empathy is defined as the ability to perceive, share or infer the feelings and emotions of others, based on the recognition of the other as similar. It is a multifactorial ability, as various correlated mechanisms act in conjunction to form it. Thus, we can distinguish two general types of empathy that, integrated, give rise to the ability as a whole:

Emotional empathy: the ability to experience the emotional states of others. Cognitive empathy: the ability to know the mental state of others.

Here there are already two terms that squeak us when it comes to nature: emotion and knowledge. While it is true that emotions have been demonstrated in various animal taxa, it is quite difficult for us to argue that a praying mantis might be capable of feeling affection.

On the other hand, the concept of knowledge is even more restrictive, since its own definition includes only our species: "Facts or information acquired by a person through experience or education, theoretical or practical understanding of a matter relating to the reality."

Thus, and in the opinion of the writer, it is necessary to make a clear distinction. We show it to you with two clear examples.

If we have a situation in which a lizard sees how a companion is eaten by a predator and runs off automatically, are we facing a case of empathy? At first no, because we doubt that the lizard is capable of putting itself in the skin of its partner, even more so of knowing the pain of others. We can hypothesize that it is a merely evolutionary and survival response: I run in the face of danger.

On the other hand, if we have a primate that is carrying a companion of his with a broken leg, maybe things change, right? Not being a direct descendant, we cannot attribute this behavior absolutely to a mechanism of genetic permanence of the individual.

In addition, we can suspect in this case that the primate is capable of thinking the following: “this once happened to me, the pain is unsustainable, my partner needs help”. The difference between this example and the previous one is that here you do integrate and know the situation of others and act accordingly.

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First investigations

Enough of speculative land, since of course there are lots of research with mammals that have yielded revealing results regarding the question of whether there is empathy in the animal kingdom.

Going back to 1959, the psychologist Russell Church subjected various rats to ethological experiments to quantify their empathic capacity.

In this investigation, a situation was presented to a rodent in which, by pulling a lever, it received food. Unfortunately, when performing this act another individual experienced an electric shock, and the rat that had triggered the events could see it perfectly.

To the surprise of the psychologist, the rats ceased their activity as soon as they saw that the shock was applied to a conspecific. What's the point of this from a survival point of view? The dominant rat gets food and the other individual of its species is not its child, so it should be just as much about the suffering of others, right?

This experiment cemented one of the first indications of empathy in the animal kingdom, but still it is not without its controversial: does the rat stop pulling the lever out of empathy, or because he is afraid that the shock will happen to him? her?

Signs of possible empathy in the animal kingdom

Beyond these "primitive" experiments at the time they were carried out, animal behaviors have been observed that are difficult to explain if not by an empathic motor.

For example, various species of cetaceans have been recorded helping their companions to surface when are hurt to breathe, a behavior that can only be attributed (albeit partially) to some degree of empathy.

Other similar cases have been recorded in primates in controlled environments. For example, in populations in reserves of target glints, certain behaviors have been observed that seem to indicate that altruism is present. In this specific case, a captive population was presented with the possibility of exchanging tokens for food in a machine. Most of the individuals learned the mechanism successfully, but one female in particular was not able to understand the workings of the machinery.

On three separate occasions for 12 hours, it was recorded how a male took the chips from the female, inserted them correctly into the machine, and allowed the female to access the food. Although these types of behaviors do not fully explain empathic behavior, they certainly suggest that this ability exists in mammals with more complex brains and nervous systems.

We have other cases of an anecdotal nature, such as, for example, two records of hippos protected two impalas (African antelopes) from attacks by crocodiles and wild dogs. even risking their lives to save them from the jaws of predators. It is very difficult for a biologist to explain this behavior from an evolutionary point of view, since the hippopotamus gets absolutely nothing from this act, being the saved individual from a species other than yours.

Can animals feel empathy?

To the question of whether there is empathy in the animal kingdom we cannot give a clear answer beyond as follows: theoretically yes it can, to prove it in a 100% irrefutable way is more difficult. It has been recorded that empathy requires the performance of the brainstem, amygdala, hypothalamus, basal ganglia, insula, and prefrontal cortex. Therefore, we cannot rule out that animals with these or similar structures are capable of showing empathic ability.

On the other hand, a relatively recent discovery of "mirror neurons" makes things even more interesting, because they are about certain kinds of neurons that are activated when an animal performs an action and when it observes that same action when it is performed by another individual. This mechanism and physiology has been clearly observed on multiple occasions in primates, thus that again, everything indicates that empathy in these living beings is present or at least can happen.

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Resume

As we have already been predicting with the previous lines, we cannot affirm 100% that empathy exists (or not) in the animal kingdom, since intentionality and Comprehension are two essential factors for this ability, and unfortunately they cannot be recorded by completely objective parameters in non-animal humans.

Even so, species with more developed nervous systems such as some mammals such as rats, primates and cetaceans do seem to indicate with their behaviors that empathy is present, at least partially and in a limited number of taxa.

Does this mean that we can extend the ability throughout the animal kingdom? Unfortunately, no. Perhaps we do not understand the interspecific meanings of the concept, since the term "empathy" has been coined by the own human being, but it is very difficult to suspect this type of behavior, for example, in groups of invertebrates.

Bibliographic references:

• de Waal, F. B. (2007). Do animals feel empathy?. Scientific American Mind, 18 (6), 28-35.
• Kuczaj, S., Tranel, K., Trone, M., & Hill, H. (2001). Are animals capable of deception or empathy? Implications for animal consciousness and animal welfare. ANIMAL WELFARE-POTTERS BAR-, 10, S161-S174.
• Plutchik, R. (1987). Evolutionary bases of empathy. Empathy and its development, 1, 38-46.