ve shown that play is enjoyable. Studies have shown that the level of dopamine increases in rats when anticipating the chance to play. Also reptiles such as iguanas exhibit sensory pleasure. Studies found that iguanas would prefer to stay warm then to look for food out in the cold. What the iguanas are experiencing is known as emotional fever, which is a psychological response that is associated with pleasure in other vertebrates including humans. Animals also exhibit grief in the absence or loss of a loved one. Jane Goodall once observed Flint, an eight-year-old chimpanzee, withdraw, stop feeding and eventually die after the death of his mother. Konrad Lorenz noted that geese exhibited grief similar to that in young children. He said A greylag goose that has lost its partner shows all the symptoms that John Bowlby has described in young human children in his famous book Infant Grief. . . the eyes sink deep into their sockets, and the individual has an overall drooping experience, literally letting their head hang. Elephants stand guard over a stillborn baby for days with their head and their ears hanging down like they were sad.The experiments and other data show that animals are not just driven by instincts alone. There is more to them than that. It is hard to watch dogs play and believe that they derive no fun or pleasure from it at all. Animals have shown that they are sensitive to their social surroundings. They punish one another and alleviate others pain. Some monkeys in established communities attack those that find food and dont share. These studies are important. A better understanding of how animals are feeling could create a whole new guideline of rules on the way animals should be treated. Humans should not be so arrogant to believe they are the only animals capable of emotion. How are we capable of seeing from their viewpoint and assume they feel no emotion....
