Both scientists and artists have long contemplated the mystery of what goes on in animals’ minds. The current research on animal sentience could have wide-ranging implications for how we regard, and treat, Earth’s creatures in the years to come
Until recently I lived in a magical corner of the city of Seattle, on a hillside overlooking Puget Sound, surrounded by thick stands of big-leaf maples interspersed with mature fir, cedar, and spruce trees. My husband, Charles, and I shared this patch of nature with abundant wildlife: coyotes, weasels and river otters, deer, and all manner of birds.
In our last few months there, we became transfixed by ongoing hostilities between a barred owl roosting in one of our maples and a murder of crows. No matter the time of day, when the crows spotted the owl, they would surround it, caw incessantly, dive-bomb, and generally harass the bird. It was hard not to feel sorry for the owl, which was, to my mind, simply trying to get some rest before the evening’s hunt. Though Charles reminded me that the two species don’t get along, I kept thinking about these crows’ relentlessness. Why did they have it in for this owl? Did they remember some injury it had done to them? Did they. It’s a thought-provoking look at key discoveries to date on matters from dog pleasure and disappointment to rat kinship to dolphin joy.
Wherever our cover story takes your mind, the research on animal sentience likely will have wide-ranging implications for how we regard, and treat, Earth’s creatures in the years to come.
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