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My Pet World: Emotion plays a big part in animal behavior, expert attests

By Steve Dale, Tribune Content Agency on

"We know that even fish have emotions," says Marc Bekoff, author of "Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed: The Fascinating Science of Emotions, Friendship, and Conservation" (New World Library, New York, NY, 2013; $15.95). "We chose the (book's) title because it's an attention-getter. The title also makes the case that some explanations are not as obvious as we think."

Bekoff is referring to the part about dogs humping.

"Most people think it's sexual, but usually it's not," notes Bekoff, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a Fellow of the Animal Behavior Society. "It's a fascinating subject. Why do animals, dogs, cats, birds, bees, pigs, cows, elephants, chimpanzees do what they do? There are reasons."

As for humping dogs, Beckoff says sometimes dogs engage in this behavior because of the response they get from giggling family members.

"Dogs will, of course, do anything when they get our attention," he explains. "Another possible explanation is play, or maybe to express dominance."

But in Bekoff's book and other contemporary books covering this topic, the old dominance theory has been debunked.

 

"When dogs hump other dogs, dominance can be a consideration, but not if they're humping our leg," Bekoff says. "That's right, dogs have no interest in dominating us. They already are aware and content to be dependent on people. Dogs don't have thumbs, do they? They don't open doors, or open cans or packages to prepare meals. I call the relationship equitable. Dogs just want to be with people."

So do bees actually get depressed? According to Bekoff they do, "and may even become pessimistic. "

As recently as 20 years ago, many scientists and experts in animal behavior contended that humans are uniquely emotional beings. Bekoff laughs at this.

"It turns out we're not quite as unique as we thought. The tide as certainly turned."

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