Digging through snow and earthquake debris to find survivors, running full speed on a battlefield. Their sacrifice and dedication surpass our expectations, but do we truly appreciate and understand animals? Do their minds and emotions resemble ours? Do they have thoughts, feelings, and memories? Do they experience sadness, joy, and love like we do?

Animal minds and behaviors have captivated humans for centuries. For a long time, we thought their actions are totally driven by instincts. Over the last few decades, scientific research proved we were wrong. Animals have amazing cognitive skills and feel profound emotions.

Octopuses open jars to reach for the content inside; ants pick up stones in their mouth to drop them down the entrances of other colonies to reduce competition for food; and chimpanzees place boxes to climb on to retrieve bananas out of reach. Crows bend twigs to reach for insects inside trees and teach these toolmaking skills to the next generation; dolphins chase fish into giant empty snail shells on the seafloor, then bring these shells to the surface, shake them so the fish fall out to be easily caught.

Studies of memory, another complex cognitive skill demonstrate that dolphins recognize each other after 20 years of separation, while tortoises remember what they were taught years later. Clark’s Nutcrackers find seeds they hid for winter in over 20,000 locations.

Playing is an unexpected behavior since animals need their energy to find food and defend themselves. Scientists believe play increases social connections and enriches their lives. Dolphins exhale rings of air from their blowhole and then swim upwards through these rings; pandas sled down on a snowy hill, and bonobos tumble like gymnasts.

Animals are capable of amazing acts of empathy towards members of their own kind and other species. Rats and humans have similar brain structures that control empathy and harm aversion. They help group members in need and stop pulling levers to get a sweet reward if the lever delivers a shock to another rat. Scientists observed ravens consoling another raven that lost a fight by grooming the distressed bird. The famous book “Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel” by Carl Safina presents amazing stories of animal joy, grief, and love.

Selflessness is another complex social ability animals show by helping others: bonobos freely donate their food; bats regurgitate some of their meals for other bats in need; and humpback whales protect seals and sea lions from killer whales.

Observed behaviors prove that animals grieve their dead. An outstanding National Geographic video and some other rare videos captured this ritual for elephants.  Mother dolphins and whales carrying their dead babies for days is the ultimate proof of the deep bonds and emotions animals are capable of.  

The more we study and learn about animals, the more we must rethink our preconceptions about them. What are the potential implications of our discoveries? Will our compassion and understanding of these unique creatures change the way we view and treat them?