The story of a sad gorilla mother from the zoo in Muenster, Germany, has sparked a wave of interest among the public in the strength and depth of emotions in animals. Reactions to the events in Muenster ranged from very emotional expressions of sympathy, through dry scientific statements that gorillas surely feel sorrow for losing their relatives similar to people but it is hard to bring scientific proof of that, to a resolute rejection of such an idea and claims that people are only projecting their own emotions into gorilla behaviour.
Who can judge? If you ask how we can know that animals have emotions, we can answer with another question - how can we know that they have not? According to the widely accepted Darwin's theory of continuous evolution of species, emotions evolve, too. If we feel jealousy, so do chimpanzees, gorillas, and wolves, for instance. Animal emotions may differ from ours but there is no reason why they should not exist. We can imagine them as shades of grey. However, we cannot establish their intensity.
Some may ask why we should lead such debates at all because it is obvious that animals do have emotions and can suffer emotionally. At every farm, you can hear a cow moo sadly when they take away her calf. Interestingly, various displays of emotions have been observed avian world. For instance, ethologists have described a strong bond between a couple of geese. When one of them dies, its partner shows apathy, has murky, hollow eyes, huddles and droops its head (small children mourn in a similar manner). By the way, the Czech word for sadness, 'smutek', developed historically from old Czech 'mutny', meaning murky or cloudy, probably due to the aforementioned typical physiological manifestations of sorrow.
One of the best experts in this field is ethologist Marc Bekoff who has studied manifestations of emotions in animals for over 30 years. He is retired now yet he remains the most-renowned biologist at University of Colorado. Together with Jane Goodall he established the organisation Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. While some scientists are trying to experimentally verify claims that animals have emotions, and other consider as relevant only measurable manifestations, such as blood pressure, pulse, bodily temperature, and hormone level, Bekoff chose a different path. His research is based on observation of animals in the wild, empathy, and rejection of mechanistic measurements. In his opinion, no sophisticated experiments are necessary: "Look an animal straight in the eyes, they reveal everything." Over his professional career, he has documented hundreds of manifestations of emotions in various animal species.
As regards apes, it is easy to bring evidence of their emotions. In her observations of chimpanzees in the wild and in captivity, Jane Goodall describes many instances of manifestation of emotional bonds. Her book Through a Window mentions the case of male chimpanzee Flint, a son of famous female Flo (1929-1972). In 1961, she was taken to J. Goodall's rescue centre. Flo had five offspring. Flint was the fourth, followed by Flame. Flo was an excellent a caring mother to her first three young. However, when the fifth was born, the ageing mother failed to wean Flint properly as she had to devote her attention to the newborn. Flint kept drawing her attention aggressively, wanted to suckle, ride on her back, and sleep with her - he was clearly jealous of his little sister. Flame died at the age of 6 months and Flint forced his mother to continue breastfeeding him. This was a turning point which forever prevented him from maturing and becoming independent of his mother even at adult age. When Flo died in 1972, Flint was eight, yet he could not cope with her death. He stopped accepting food and communicating with others, and showed signs of depression. His immune system soon collapsed and he died just one month after his mother.
We know a lot about emotions in apes also thanks to the capabilities of Koko, a famous gorilla. She was able to learn the basics of a sign language and can express her feelings quite well. We have learned that she feels happiness, fear, and sorrow, that she is sometimes jealous, frustrated, angry or happy - the whole range of emotions we perceive as a human phenomenon.
We do not need to go far for examples of manifestations of emotions in apes - we can watch the gorilla troop at the Prague zoo and their emotions on a daily basis. Whether we call it affection or love, the females take care of the young with great tenderness, carrying, cuddling and caressing them. Kamba often pats the young ones on their backs when they come to cuddle, as if saying like a wise granny: "It's gonna be all right, don't worry." Expressions of unity, tolerance, friendship, and trust can be seen in regular mutual combing of fur or Richard's interest in the health of the females. The little siblings, too, sometimes express mutual affection tenderly. Tatu comes to cuddle with Moja and she sometimes hugs her brother. When she carries him on her back, it is hard to tell if she is doing it out of love, helping him, or just imitates the adults.
The pavilion was full of emotions when Kamba joined the group. Anger and aggressive behaviour could have been caused by unspecific worries and perception of the newcomer as a potential threat to positions in hierarchy, as well as jealousy. An strongly emotionally charged situation was Kamba's complicated delivery. The other females came to their troubled mate and stroked her cheeks - apparently in sympathy. When Kamba was separated from the rest of the troop for two days for a veterinary check-up, the other gorillas had no idea whether she was gone for good or even died. When she returned two days later, everyone expressed joy - they came to welcome her and stroked her head.
Expressions of joy are common in the pavilion. When the young play and tease each other, their jolly laughing faces shine with joy. Adults, too, sometimes express joy. However, alpha males need to keep their authority and tend to be rather strict, displaying might rather than tenderness. That is why we can more often witness manifestations of emotions in females and young.
Relations within a gorilla troop are not always as harmonious as at the Prague zoo (minor conflicts aside). In the wild, if a member becomes unwanted, he or she can leave the troop and join another. However, no such option exists in the confines of zoological garden pavilions. There have been reports of severe bullying that keepers had to resolve in the end. To conclude on a more positive note, we can mention mutual stroking among young gorillas in Apenheul, the Netherlands, as reported by Radek Sofr in his recent article Gorillas' First Love.
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