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POPSANIMALS’ ALTRUISM AND ABILITY TO EMPATHIZE
Ethologists use the terms care-giving, or epimeletic behavior, and care-soliciting, or et-epimeletic behavior, to identify those behaviors that underlie the altruism we see in various species that means that they do have the capacity to empathize. Skeptics dismiss all of this as anthropomorphic and scientifically unproven, and it disturbs me to read some professional comments on this topic. For example, veterinarian John S. Parker stated that "Pets can and often do react to their owners’ distress or discomfort, but that is not to be confused with experiencing the emotion of empathy" (Letter in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, June 1, 2006, pp 1677-1678). Aside from contending that animals "do not have the cognitive capacity to put themselves in our place", he incorrectly sees empathy not as a process or affective state but as an actual emotion, which it is not. Animal ethics philosopher Dr. Bernard E. Rollin’s response (in this same Journal, on p.1678), stati
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POPSWho are Leakey's Angels? The third of Leakey's Angels is Birute Galdikas, a German-born Canadian who was introduced to Leakey in the 1970s. Unlike Goodall and Fossey, Galdikas actually had training and experience in the field, and she approached Leakey to discuss the studying of orangutans. Her studies took place in the jungles of Indonesia. Galdikas is credited with coining the term “Leakey's Angels,” discussing the three women in a 1995 book.
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