Exploring the Intriguing Inner Lives of Animals with Dr. Jonathan Balcombe
Scientists are now
asking very interesting
questions about
animal emotions, animal
minds and cognition,
animal communication,
even animal virtue.
Do animals have
similar feelings of love,
happiness and sadness
as humans?
Are there animals who
possess superior memories
than humans?
How do some animals
seem able to predict
natural phenomena
before they occur?
Halo, kind viewers.
Let’s discover
the answers to
these questions and more
on Animal World:
Our Co-Inhabitants
as we explore
the intriguing inner world
of animals.
International
#1 bestselling author
of the books,
“The Birds in My Life,”
“The Dogs in My Life”
and “The Noble Wilds,”
Supreme Master Ching Hai
has often spoken about
the highly sentient
and noble beings
we call animals.
Animals are extremely
intelligent. Intelligent.
There is no doubt,
and we know that, too.
Even pigs, house pets,
they are known for their
quality of faithfulness,
loyalties, friendliness,
and helpfulness
in time of trouble.
In your newspapers,
printed everyday
some miracles done
by animals.
Like dogs rescue children
from burning house,
pig runs many miles
to rescue his owner.
Horses stay with
the tomb of his master
until his death.
He never eats anything.
Or some dog never leaves
the tomb of his master,
etc., etc.
So many, many things.
So it is not funny
that the humans
sometimes think animals
are better than us, yes?
It could be,
in some aspects,
it could be true.
After all, all beings are
created by God anyhow,
so why not they have
the God spark inside them
like we do?
It’s just because they are
in a different form and
they use different languages
doesn't mean
they are in any way
less worthy than us.
Through further studies
and observations,
humans are gaining
a greater understanding
of the sophisticated
social systems,
depth of cognition
and dignified principles
of the furry, finned
and feathered residents
of this planet.
Our 3-part series features
Dr. Jonathan Balcombe,
a leading behavioral
research scientist
and author of
“The Use of Animals
in Higher Education:
Problems, Alternatives
and Recommendations,”
“Pleasurable Kingdom:
Animals and the Nature
of Feeling Good”
and “Second Nature:
The Inner Lives
of Animals.”
A new book
by Dr. Balcombe
will be released in May
titled, “The Exultant Ark
– A Pictorial Tour
of Animal Pleasure.”
As a respected speaker,
Dr. Balcombe has travelled
around the globe,
giving presentations and
raising awareness about
the values, psychology,
intelligence and emotions
of our animal friends.
He has written
numerous scientific
papers and articles
published in prestigious
academic journals
and magazines such as
the “Journal of
Applied Animal
Welfare Science,”
“British Medical Journal,”
“Journal of
Consciousness Studies,”
“Animal Behavior,”
“Canadian Field-Naturalist”
and many others.
Dr. Balcombe has said,
“As science continues
to make new discoveries
about animal minds
and feelings,
I hope it strikes a chord
for more considerate,
ethical treatment
of animals.”
In my opinion,
the only difference
between a human
and an animal
is same as the difference
between a pig and a cow,
or chicken and starling.
They’re different species.
So I think we need to
recognize and celebrate
the diversity of life and
recognize that all species
have their own values.
While growing up,
Dr. Balcombe had always
found himself being
fascinated by animals.
But it was during
a biology class
at York University
in Toronto, Canada,
that he determined
his life's purpose.
We had crossbred fruit flies,
drosophila melanogaster,
bearing
different phenotypes.
And it was time
to record the distribution
of characteristics
in the next generation.
Counting the number
of flies with white
versus red eyes
required exposing them
to ether to immobilize them.
The flies were then
sprinkled onto a sheet
of white paper to be
examined and counted.
When the data collection
was complete,
the flies had no further use
to genetics.
And our instructions
were to tip them into
a small glass dish of oil
placed at the center
of each desk.
The "morgue"
as it was called was to be
diminutive drosophila's
final resting place.
Well, rocking the boat
never came easily to me,
but I was having
none of this.
Once my little pile of
dipterans had been counted,
I pushed them off
the edge of the paper
where they were
camouflaged against
the black desktop.
As we recorded our data,
I kept one eye on them.
The ember of life
soon rekindled and
within minutes the pile was
twitching and humming
as tiny legs and wings
beat their way
out of the ether fog.
They staggered onto
their spindly legs before
regaining their senses
and launching forth.
I was thrilled
as they took flight.
The flies were my first step
in refusing to conduct
scientific research that
treated non-human life
as dispensable.
They also charted a path
for the values
I want to bring
to the study of animals.
As I became more aware
of institutionalized
abuses of animals,
I identified a niche
for my future:
animal protection.
During his many years
of research, Dr. Balcombe
came across numerous
scientific studies
indicating that animals
have a high level of
intelligence, sometimes
even exceeding
that of a human being.
Chimpanzees
have been shown to have
far better spatial memory,
certainly short term,
and perhaps long term.
You can watch these
on these videos
on YouTube these days.
Chimpanzees,
young chimpanzees
shown a monitor,
these have learned
to interact with
computer monitors.
And if the numbers 1 to 9
are scattered randomly
and they appear
on that screen
for 1 second or less,
the chimpanzee casually
points to each rectangle
in the correct sequence,
1 through 9,
and gets a little treat.
That’s the motivation,
has a little treat.
Humans,
with about 1 second to
see the array of numbers,
we might get to 3 or 4 if
we are having a good day.
In fact, one chimpanzee
named Ayumu, if he has
one fifth of a second,
so it’s about that long,
to see the nine numbers,
he remembers them all,
90% of the time.
So these animals have
an incredible
spatial intelligence
that is far beyond our own.
So we can’t even claim
to be at the pinnacle of
all forms of intelligence
as we often do.
An article printed in
The Washington Post
titled, “It’s Music to
These Monkeys’ Ears –
And Also Their Hearts”
written by Rob Stein,
showed the enlightening
results of a study
in which scientists
created “animal” music
for tamarin monkeys
to observe their reactions
rather than testing
how they are affected
by human music,
which in previous studies
did not provide
conclusive results.
True enough,
soothing music
was observed
to have a calming effect
while harsh music seemed
to make the monkeys
more restless,
similarly to how humans
are stimulated by
different types of songs.
This opens the door
to re-examining
other misconceptions
humans have
of the innate intelligence
of animals.
For a long time,
we thought chimpanzees
had very poor
face recognition skills,
until someone had
the bright idea
to actually test them
on chimpanzee faces
instead of human faces.
Once chimps were tested
on chimpanzee faces,
they did very, very well,
about as well as we do.
And what’s more,
they do better than us
on upside-down faces.
And if you think about
chimpanzees
hanging around in trees,
you might guess
why they are better at that
than we are.
Sheep are also very good
at face recognition.
A sheep
who has been removed
from her own flock
and put in another flock
for two years.
Two years later,
being shown
a series of 80, 90, 100
still photos of sheep,
some of whom were
from her original flock,
and some from alien sheep
she doesn’t know.
She can recognize
up to 50 or so of her
original flock mates,
2 years later
from a single face
on photograph
or a profile photograph.
Also, sheep will
almost routinely,
will almost never
go through a door
with a photograph
of a very hungry sheep,
if there is the other option
of going through a door
with a photograph
of a just fed sheep.
They look similar to us,
but they can see
the sheep is more relaxed
and more happy,
and they would rather
go through that door.
And sheep much prefer
a smiling human face
to a frowning,
angry looking one.
In his book,
“Second Nature:
The Inner Lives
of Animals,”
Dr. Balcombe writes:
“Recent research
has detected elephants
using a special acoustic
technique to track others.
Their feet are
beautifully adapted
for communication and
listening infrasonically,
that is, at frequencies
below human hearing.
Preliminary studies
reveal a high density
of pressure-sensitive
nerve endings
at the front of the footpad
and around the edges.
This enables them
to remain in contact
with each other for weeks
at a time, even though
they may be separated
by miles of savannah.
It may act as
an early warning system
for earthquakes, explaining
why elephants and
virtually all large animals
had already moved
to higher ground
when rising water
from the giant tsunami
pounded Asian coastlines
on Dec. 26, 2004.”
Dr. Balcombe explains
how this acoustic skill
gives elephants a unique
spatial awareness of
where others in the herd
are located.
They live in
matriarchal groups
and they often move
from point A to B
several miles away.
They’re going to go to
a tree that’s fruiting and
they have good memories
for that too.
So, if the scientists
dig up fresh urine from
some elephants who are
walking further ahead,
a quarter of a mile ahead
and then quickly
dump it down again,
the elephants walking
behind, on encountering
that urine, will sniff it
and check it out
and then move on.
But if they take urine
from elephants who are
walking somewhere behind
and quickly start
and bring it up in front of
these walking elephants
and deposit it,
the elephants react
differently. They show
much more surprise.
They twist their trunks more,
they described it
in the scientific paper.
It doesn’t fit expectations
to find fresh urine,
fresh pee from someone
who you know
is behind you.
So, it’s a way of
illustrating these animals
have a mental map.
They’re aware of
who is who,
and who is where.
And it is actually estimated
based on this
and other studies,
that an elephant
is keeping mental tabs
on around 30 other
individual elephants
at any one time.
So, there’s
a lot of awareness
in these animals’ minds.
And should we be surprised?
This is a big animal,
huge brain, very long lived,
emotional,
very good memory.
With mounting scientific
evidence indicating
that animals are
highly intelligent,
deeply emotional, and
complex sentient beings,
Dr. Balcombe believes
that we must look at and
treat our fellow beings
with respect and dignity.
The animal has
life worth living, and
that stems from sentience,
from the capacity
to feel things, pleasures
and pains.
We understand those feeling
for our own lives.
Well, they have
those feelings as well and
it is because of sentience
that they have lives
that are worth living.
For more information on
Dr. Jonathan Balcombe,
please visit:
It was a pleasure
having your company
today for Animal World:
Our Co-Inhabitants.
Join us again
Friday and Saturday
for part 2 and part 3
of our program,
“Exploring the Intriguing
Inner Lives of Animals with
Dr. Jonathan Balcombe.”
Please stay tuned
to Supreme Master
Television for
Enlightening Entertainment,
coming up next right
after Noteworthy News.
May you live in
Heaven’s grace with
compassion and wisdom.
They are thinking
and feeling beings,
like we are.
They have good days
and bad days.
They have senses.
They are sentient.
And so we need
a new way of thinking
about animals.
Halo, gentle viewers
and welcome to
Animal World:
Our Co-Inhabitants,
where we are exploring
the intriguing inner world
of animals.
Through further studies
and observations,
humans are gaining
a greater understanding
of the sophisticated
social systems,
depth of cognition
and dignified principles
of the furry, finned
and feathered residents
of this planet.
International
#1 bestselling author
of the books,
“The Birds in My Life,”
“The Dogs in My Life”
and “The Noble Wilds,”
Supreme Master Ching Hai
has often spoken about
the highly sentient
and noble beings
we call animals.
The animals come to this
planet with a special role.
Many of them are able to
bring down divine power
from Heaven, or love,
just through
their presence
because they are
very connected with
the Divine at all times.
Some, like horses
and rabbits, can protect
their human caregivers
from negative influences,
or boost them with good
health, good luck, even
material fortune, joy,
or spiritual upliftment.
They watch out for us
quietly and humbly
send blessings our way.
Some of them are
from higher levels of
consciousness;
they only came down
in animal form to help
humankind or
other beings on Earth.
Our 3-part series features
Dr. Jonathan Balcombe,
a leading behavioral
research scientist
and author of
“The Use of Animals
in Higher Education:
Problems, Alternatives
and Recommendations,”
“Pleasurable Kingdom:
Animals and the Nature
of Feeling Good”
and “Second Nature:
The Inner Lives
of Animals.”
A new book
by Dr. Balcombe
will be released in May
titled, “The Exultant Ark
– A Pictorial Tour
of Animal Pleasure.”
As a respected speaker,
Dr. Balcombe has travelled
around the globe,
giving presentations and
raising awareness about
the values, psychology,
intelligence and emotions
of our animal friends.
He has written
numerous scientific
papers and articles
published in prestigious
academic journals
and magazines such as
the “Journal of
Applied Animal
Welfare Science,”
“British Medical Journal,”
“Journal of
Consciousness Studies,”
“Animal Behavior,”
“Canadian Field-Naturalist”
and many others.
Dr. Balcombe has said,
“As science continues
to make new discoveries
about animal minds
and feelings,
I hope it strikes a chord
for more considerate,
ethical treatment
of animals.”
In an article titled,
“Jonathan Balcombe:
‘Stop being beastly to hens’”
by James Randerson
in April 2010
for the United Kingdom’s
newspaper, “Guardian,”
the question on whether
animals have any kind of
moral responsibility
was posed to Dr. Balcombe.
He answered,
“Absolutely.
One of the frontiers
of science is the study
of virtue in animals:
increasingly it's coming
to light that animals have
a moral awareness,
or a moral consideration
about how they behave.
This is particularly the case
with social animals,
who've evolved
to live in groups.
Living in groups
is full of compromise,
you give and take
and you want to sustain
good relationships
with others or
you may be an outcast,
and that's not
in your self-interest –
so one can make
genetic arguments
for the evolution of virtue
and moral behavior –
certainly we manifest it
in many ways.”
New scientific studies
show that animals have
noble qualities.
If you think about the
importance of being nice
when you live in a group,
you will appreciate
that other animals need
to be nice to each other,
because many animals
live in groups.
They live in populations.
They have communities.
They have societies.
It behooves you
to be polite,
to be respectful,
to be restrained,
to be nice, and to be good.
And animals show that.
Animals show consideration
for each other.
Studies show that rats,
for instance,
will spontaneously,
without any reward,
without anyone
telling them to,
if they see another rat
in distress,
they will act to bring them
out of that distress.
If they are in a harness,
they will help
to remove them.
If they are locked out
of somewhere, they will
try to open the door
so they can get through.
Chimpanzees
and monkeys also,
if they work together
to get something,
they will share food.
If you put them in cages,
which is very sad,
they will pass food
through the cage walls
to each other,
to make sure the other one
gets enough food as well.
It is virtuous behavior.
Increasingly, research
shows that humans
are not the only species
who are guided
by a moral compass.
Scientists have observed
a rat refusing
to push a lever which
will release his food
when he knows
that a fellow rat will also
receive an electric shock;
elephants helping
an antelope
to escape an enclosure;
a monkey helping
another one
that hasn’t yet learned
that a token must be
inserted into a slot
for her to receive her food.
There are also accounts
of dolphins and whales
coming to the aid of
humans stranded at sea.
Birds and fish also
exhibit altruistic behavior.
There is over
three hundred species
of birds help at the nest,
where individuals
who are not going to raise
any of their own young
will help other parents
raise their young.
Usually they're relatives,
but not always.
There are cichlid fish
in Africa
who do the same thing,
not even related
to the parent fish.
They help them
raise their young.
We also have examples
of midwifery,
wet nursing, nannying,
and babysitting in nature
among various species.
We even have a new term
in biology
based on the behavior
of Seychelles warblers,
which have been shown
that grandparents will
help their offspring's young.
So they're helping
two generations down.
So we have a new term
in biology: “grand chicks.”
Professor Marc Bekoff,
an ecologist
at the University
of Colorado in Boulder
Colorado, USA,
stated in the article,
“Animals Can Tell Right
from Wrong”:
“The belief that
humans have morality
and animals don’t
is a long-standing
assumption, but there is
a growing amount of
evidence that is showing us
that this simply
cannot be the case.
Just as in humans,
the moral nuances
of a particular culture
or group will be different
from another, but
they are certainly there.”
As such, the principles
of fairness and equality
are also appreciated
in the animal kingdom.
New studies are showing
that animals have
a sense of fairness.
Two dogs who are asked
to shake a paw
with a human
will happily shake a paw.
But if you start giving food,
giving a treat
to this one dog,
for shaking the paw
but not to the other one,
the one who’s
not getting the treat
will soon stop
and look away,
essentially showing,
“I don’t appreciate
the unfair treatment.”
So they are aware of
some sort of unfairness
here, which is something
we certainly understand.
Similarly with monkeys,
if both monkeys are
getting cucumbers, and
they like to eat cucumbers,
they happily will take them.
But if you suddenly
switch to grapes
with this monkey,
they really like grapes,
even better
than cucumbers,
this monkey will
no longer accept cucumber.
He will hand it back
or throw it away
and hold his hands out,
looking at the other monkey,
you know, “Why am I
not getting grapes?
I am doing the same thing.”
So these are
clever biology studies
that show that animals also
have a sense of fairness.
They appreciate
being treated respectfully
and fairly and equally
to others, just as we do.
Dr. Frans de Waal,
a primatologist
from the US-based
Yerkes Regional
Primate Research Center
at Emory University,
did a long term study on
a monkey named Mozu
which revealed
virtuous behavior
in animals.
Mozu was
a Japanese macaques,
a monkey similar
to these animals
on the cover of my book.
And Mozu was born
with a very, very severe
physical disability.
She had no hands,
and she had no feet.
And you think of a monkey,
pretty much any animal,
but certainly a monkey,
no hands, no feet,
no climbing,
no grasping of food.
This animal is not
going to live very long.
Mozu actually lived
a long life,
and raised 5 young,
which is more than
most females will do
in macaques society.
She couldn't have done it
by herself.
She relied and benefited
from the goodness of others
who helped her, fed her,
did favors to her.
Virtuous behavior.
Animals are often
thought of as purely
instinctual creatures
whose only focus
is on their survival.
However,
this misconception
is being dispelled
more and more through
the numerous studies
of animal behavior which
show animals acting out
of charity and kindness.
Let me just give you
one story about chickens
that I think is pretty
intriguing and revealing.
One of the calls
that chickens make,
it’s made only by roosters.
It is called
a food solicitation call
or a come hither call, and
it’s intended for a hen.
And it’s been shown
roosters will
never make this call
if there is no hen in sight.
It’s for their benefit.
And hens are very tuned in
to these calls.
If the hen is nearby,
she hears this call,
she comes running.
And the rooster typically
only makes this call
when he has found
some morsel of food.
So, the hen comes running
and the rooster
very gallantly sort of
points it out and steps back.
And often the hen will
find it and she’ll eat it.
Given that
scientific evidence prove
animals to be as noble and
sentient as humans,
how can we best show
our reverence for the lives
of our fellow beings?
One of the reasons
I admire
Supreme Master Ching Hai,
is that her message is
that we need
a new relationship
with animals as well.
We need to
stop eating them,
putting them in our mouths,
we need to respect them
and love them,
and celebrate that
they are also part of this
rich planet that we live in.
Going vegan or
having a plant-based diet
is the most profound
and immediate way
that an individual
can do right by animals.
You stop eating them,
you immediately
remove yourself from that
whole factory farming,
transport, slaughterhouse
thing that we do.
If you stop eating eggs
and milk, well, you’re
no longer supporting calves
being removed
from their mothers
as soon as they’re born.
Anne Frank said,
"Isn’t it wonderful
that we needn’t wait
another moment before
changing the world
for the better?"
I love that sentiment,
because becoming
vegetarian or vegan
is an immediate way that
you can save animals’ lives,
every day, every week
of the year.
For more information on
Dr. Jonathan Balcombe,
please visit:
Thank you for joining us
today for Animal World:
Our Co-Inhabitants.
Join us again Saturday
for the conclusion
of our program,
“Exploring the Intriguing
Inner Lives of Animals with
Dr. Jonathan Balcombe.”
Up next is
Enlightening Entertainment,
right after
Noteworthy News
here on
Supreme Master Television.
May your life
be filled with wonder,
respect and gratitude
for all God’s creations.
Animals enjoy their food,
they enjoy
their social company.
They have leisure time,
they can relax.
Their lives are rich and
their lives are worth living.
And that needs
to affect the way
we interact with them.
Halo, caring viewers
and welcome to
Animal World:
Our Co-Inhabitants.
Today we continue with
the concluding episode
of our 3-part series,
“Exploring the Intriguing
Inner Lives of Animals with
Dr. Jonathan Balcombe.”
Dr. Jonathan Balcombe
is a leading behavioral
research scientist
and author of
“The Use of Animals
in Higher Education:
Problems, Alternatives
and Recommendations,”
“Pleasurable Kingdom:
Animals and the Nature
of Feeling Good”
and “Second Nature:
The Inner Lives
of Animals.”
A new book
by Dr. Balcombe
will be released in May
titled, “The Exultant Ark
– A Pictorial Tour
of Animal Pleasure.”
As a respected speaker,
Dr. Balcombe has travelled
around the globe,
giving presentations and
raising awareness about
the values, psychology,
intelligence and emotions
of our animal friends.
He has written
numerous scientific
papers and articles
published in prestigious
academic journals
and magazines such as
the “Journal of
Applied Animal
Welfare Science,”
“British Medical Journal,”
“Journal of
Consciousness Studies,”
“Animal Behavior,”
“Canadian Field-Naturalist”
and many others.
Dr. Balcombe has said,
“As science continues
to make new discoveries
about animal minds
and feelings,
I hope it strikes a chord
for more considerate,
ethical treatment
of animals.”
There’s a lot of
really important things
that humans need to
understand and respect
about animals, but
the key one is this word,
“sentience.”
And sentience is the ability
to feel things,
to feel good things,
to feel bad things,
to feel pain,
to feel pleasure.
And so, my message
about animals
is that they have lives
that matter to them.
And so therefore we need
to respect their lives.
And the closer
we look at animals,
the more we study them,
the more we realize just
how complex they are.
During his research
while in graduate school,
Dr. Balcombe studied
a large group of bats
who lived together
inside a small, dark cave.
Through his observations,
he noted
how these animals have
an amazingly intricate
communication system.
I studied these
flying mammals and
how they communicate
with each other, how
they listen to other bats,
and get information about
where to find some food,
and also
how they recognize
each other’s voices,
as we can, to link up
when they need to.
A mother needs
to find her baby,
for instance,
or the baby’s hungry,
so the baby calls and
the mother hears the baby,
and they find each other
that way.
In his book,
“Second Nature:
The Inner Lives
of Animals,”
Dr. Balcombe refers to
many other studies on
animal communication.
Dr. Con Slobodchikoff,
an ethologist
and biology professor
from Northern Arizona
University
in the United States,
has studied prairie dogs
for over 30 years and
believes they may have
the most sophisticated
communication system
than any other mammal.
Prairie dogs have over
a 100 calls, with modifiers.
And poignantly,
they have a call
for a man carrying a gun.
So animals respond to
our presence,
and they respond
in complex, flexible ways.
We need
to respect them more.
We need
to treat them better.
We need to be aware
that they want
to live their lives too,
like we do ours.
In addition to
learning about
communication skills,
many researchers are
discovering other aspects
of animal intelligence.
Dr. Balcombe describes
a scientific study
on scrub jays which
revealed their remarkable
long term memories.
Scrub jays are
a relative of crows,
a North American bird.
And they have been shown
to have what’s called
episodic memory.
That is,
they can remember
the what, the when, and
the where of a past event.
In this study, a scrub jay
was given a pile of peanuts
and they were allowed
to bury them.
By the way,
this is a caching species.
This is a species
that buries food and
comes back to it later.
The scrub jays were then
given a much more
perishable food,
which they also buried.
The birds were then
kept away from the area
for over a week.
Upon their return,
the scrub jays did not
even bother trying to
recover the perishable food,
apparently realizing
that it would already
have spoiled.
Instead they headed
directly to the side
where they had hidden
the peanuts, which
do not spoil as quickly.
So they remember
what they buried,
where they buried it,
and how long ago it was,
and how much time
has elapsed.
So it’s a pretty impressive
cognitive feat.
Animals possess
considerable innate wisdom
and are able to pass along
their knowledge
and culture
from one generation
to the next.
There’s actually
a term called
zoopharmacognosy.
And zoopharmacognosy
is the specialized study of
self-medication in animals.
You know, animals
live in their habitats,
they know different plants,
they know where to find
certain fruiting trees
at certain times of year.
And they also learn
through trial and error
over the course of
evolution and
cultural evolution,
they learn which plants
can make them feel better.
Chimpanzees use many
different kinds of plants
to self-medicate, and
many other animals do this.
It was once thought
that animals live only
in the present
and their actions
were all based on
an instinct to survive.
However,
scientific evidence shows
that animals are
capable of experiencing
happiness and sorrow
just as humans do.
Baboon mothers
who lose an infant
have been found
to show a physiological
and a behavioral response
that mirrors
those of humans,
in particular, women
who have lost an infant.
We know
that is a terrible loss.
We grieve for long periods.
That’s reflected
in increased
glucocorticoid hormones
in our bloodstream.
And we can measure that.
It goes up
for about a month,
and it gradually subsides.
Time is our friend,
when we are recovering
from grief and bereavement.
Well, a baboon mother
who loses an infant
shows the same sort of
hormonal changes.
It goes up
for about a month
and gradually subsides.
And they also
respond behaviorally
by expanding
their social networks.
They engage in
a lot more grooming
with each other, receiving
and giving grooming.
It’s thought
to be a form of therapy.
And these are the terms
the scientists used
to describe it.
And it is, I think,
analogous to the way
we rally around socially
when a loved one
is ill or lost.
We send flowers,
we send cards,
we bring soup over,
we rally round morally.
And by the way,
the baboon mother
is not the only one
to show this response.
These hormones also
go up to a lesser degree,
in their closest friends
and associates in
the baboon community.
These studies show
that they can have
moods and dispositions,
emotional tenors
that last for days
or weeks or months,
possibly years.
In his next book,
“The Exultant Ark –
A Pictorial Tour
of Animal Pleasure,”
Dr. Balcombe seeks
to show that animals
not only have emotions,
but they experience
pleasure and happiness.
At times, birds fly
for the pure pleasure of
soaring through the skies;
monkeys help
groom each other
because it feels good and
elephants engage in play
for the simple joy of it.
Animals also are
pleasure seekers.
They are not just
pain avoiders.
There are many ways
that animals
experience pleasure,
through food,
through touch,
through their everyday
communications.
If you live with
dogs or cats, you know
they feel pleasure.
You rub their belly,
they come running for it.
Maybe not a scientific
study, but it’s pretty clear
that these animals
like the touch, and they
probably enjoy their food
and other pleasures
in their lives.
Well, rats have been shown
to love touch as well.
In one study,
two groups of rats.
Rats who are expecting
to be petted on the back
will come
to be petted by the hand.
But rats
who are expecting to be
flipped on their back
and tickled on the belly,
which rats do to each other
when they’re young,
and when they play fight,
they will come running,
scientists love
to measure things,
they will come running
to the hand four times
as quickly and
they will utter about
on average 7 times
more ultrasonic chirps
which are associated
with positive effect in rats.
So rats love a belly rub
as much as cats do
apparently.
As a vegan himself,
Dr. Balcombe works for
the dignified treatment
of animals and strives to
raise awareness about
the sentient and intelligent
nature of animals.
The way we treat animals
right now when
we raise them for food
and it's not very ethical,
given the capacities
that animals have.
The slave trade,
civil rights,
suffragist movement,
those are largely now
relegated to
the history books.
We've made huge strides
in conquering those
past wrongs based on
“might makes right”.
Unfortunately,
we're still in the dark ages
with animals largely.
We still legally define them
as property, and we still,
kill huge numbers.
If you want
to help animals,
the best way one can do it
as an individual
is to stop eating them.
I'm hopeful that
we, humans, humankind,
will look back
on the 21st century
as the century
for the animals.
From his books, articles
and seminars,
Dr. Balcombe presents
the scientific evidence
that animals are
living, emotional,
cognizant beings,
with the hopes
that they will be treated
compassionately as beings
with equal rights to
happiness and freedom.
So, part of my message,
and part of
Supreme Master Ching Hai’s
message about animals,
is that animals celebrate
life, animals enjoy life,
animals have
positive experiences.
They enjoy their days.
They seek out good things.
Supreme Master Ching Hai,
who has also
spoken extensively
about the intelligence
and dignity of our
animal co-inhabitants,
is hopeful for a gentler
world of kindness
and compassion, wherein
the divinity in all beings
is recognized and respected.
They are living beings
just like us.
When you look into
the eyes of animals,
sometimes you will realize,
“My God! We are equal.
We are the same.”
And that feeling
will send shivers
all over your body,
and give you
an enlightenment
that you would never
dream of having.
I told you that animals
can also teach you,
flowers and trees
and everything.
In the Bible,
you remember?
God said that,
"I made animals to
help you, as your helper,
as your friend.”
Remember?
That's why we should
never eat them,
not mistreat them.
So, everything
on this planet, including us,
is inter-related
and helping each other
to make our lives here
comfortable and livable.
Our heartfelt thanks,
Dr. Jonathan Balcombe,
for sharing your expertise
on the profound,
inner lives of our
animal co-inhabitants.
We wish you
every success in
all your noble endeavors
as we unite towards a
peaceful and vegan planet
where all live
in safety and happiness.
For more information on
Dr. Jonathan Balcombe,
please visit:
We enjoyed
your company today for
Animal World:
Our Co-Inhabitants.
Stay tuned
to Supreme Master
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Enlightening Entertainment,
right after
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Blessed be
your loving heart
as you walk
the honorable way of saints.