The Human-Animal Relationship

[Madhuri]

I am hoping for some answers from a scientific, evolutionary perspective.

Why do humans have relationships with animals? I am not talking about sexual relationships. I mean, why do we love and care and form kinship with animals?

I have always been a vegetarian. I have a lot of affection for animals in general. I see them as personalities, not as food.

So it confuses me when I see people who eat meat and talk about animals as being unintelligent, lacking in sentience etc. having pets and loving them.

From a biological or evolutionary perspective, why does our species develop relationships with animals? And why do animals form kinship with us?

Is it because on some level we recognise that these animals are intelligent, sentient individuals with emotion and needs similar to our own?

 

[The Sum of Awe]

I am hoping for some answers from a scientific, evolutionary perspective.

Why do humans have relationships with animals? I am not talking about sexual relationships. I mean, why do we love and care and form kinship with animals?

Not everybody does.

We also hunt, kill, eat, slaughter, leave dead on the side of the road, use them for labor.

I have always been a vegetarian. I have a lot of affection for animals in general. I see them as personalities, not as food.

So it confuses me when I see people who eat meat and talk about animals as being unintelligent, lacking in sentience etc. having pets and loving them.

From a biological or evolutionary perspective, why does our species develop relationships with animals? And why do animals form kinship with us?

Is it because on some level we recognise that these animals are intelligent, sentient individuals with emotion and needs similar to our own?

We should have relationships with animals for we are no different, we are animals ourselves. They have the same emotions, feeling, desire, thought and mind as we do.

 

[Madhuri]

Not everybody does.

We also hunt, kill, eat, slaughter, leave dead on the side of the road, use them for labor.

But even people who kill and eat animals have loving relationships with them.

What I am asking relates to our capacity to develop love and relationships, which is a phenomenon displayed by most humans.

 

[Reverend Rick]

I am hoping for some answers from a scientific, evolutionary perspective.

Why do humans have relationships with animals? I am not talking about sexual relationships. I mean, why do we love and care and form kinship with animals?

I have always been a vegetarian. I have a lot of affection for animals in general. I see them as personalities, not as food.

So it confuses me when I see people who eat meat and talk about animals as being unintelligent, lacking in sentience etc. having pets and loving them.

From a biological or evolutionary perspective, why does our species develop relationships with animals? And why do animals form kinship with us?

Is it because on some level we recognise that these animals are intelligent, sentient individuals with emotion and needs similar to our own?

Excellent thread. Animals most definitely have personalities. One question, are there vegans who think of animals as unintelligent as well as some people who eat meat think that way?

As far as why animal's form kinship's with us, many animals recognise that they need us to make their lives better. That might be the first reason. Later on, a bond forms between our furry friends and us.

 

[Noaidi]

I am hoping for some answers from a scientific, evolutionary perspective...

..From a biological or evolutionary perspective, why does our species develop relationships with animals? And why do animals form kinship with us?

I'm interested in the relationship humans have with dogs and wolves - what led to the domestication of the wolf and moulded it into what we now call a dog. It appears that human evolution may have been influenced by this relationship.

I found this paper interesting:

https://www.uwsp.edu/psych/s/275/Science/Coevolution03.pdf

 

[Madhuri]

As far as why animal's form kinship's with us, many animals recognise that they need us to make their lives better. That might be the first reason. Later on, a bond forms between our furry friends and us.

Sometimes it's more than that. For instance, some species of birds can choose a human as their 'mate'. Like my cockatiel. I only recently (after 11 years) realised that this is how he sees me. It explains why in 10 years he never mates with the female, poor girl
Dogs seem to see the human as pact leader or master if they are reared by humans.
But some animals have also adopted animals of other species into their pack or family.

 

[Reverend Rick]

But some animals have also adopted animals of other species into their pack or family.

My dog adopted our cat. They sleep together and he grooms our cat.

 

[ninerbuff]

I believe there are many humans out there that can't relate well with people, but do well with animals. Usually it's because animals can't judge and call a person names or ridicule them. I made a thread a couple of months back about how some people spend more money and take better care of their dogs than themselves.

 

[Reverend Rick]

I believe there are many humans out there that can't relate well with people, but do well with animals. Usually it's because animals can't judge and call a person names or ridicule them. I made a thread a couple of months back about how some people spend more money and take better care of their dogs than themselves.

Some animals do judge. They can sense people and their intentions many times.

 

[ninerbuff]

Some animals do judge. They can sense people and their intentions many times.

I'm speaking in terms of bad intentions though. Almost any animal will response to abuse and neglect, but what I meant is that if a person is ugly, overweight, smokes, etc. animals don't make rash judgements like a human would.

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

From a biological or evolutionary perspective, why does our species develop relationships with animals? And why do animals form kinship with us?

Is it because on some level we recognise that these animals are intelligent, sentient individuals with emotion and needs similar to our own?

I personally doubt it.

If we're talking evolutionary factors exclusively, I think two things play a large role:

- when relating to people, there's a big emphasis on faces. Animals (the ones we tend to form relationships with, anyhow) generally have faces, too.

- we're apparently hard-wired to infer agency in just about everything. We even anthropomorphize things like the seasons and the weather; it doesn't seem surprising that we'd anthropomorphize animals that actually do exhibit some form of agency. If we can jump to the conclusion that the seasons have human-like "needs" that can be met by humans through ritual, of course we're going to assume that an animal that exhibits similar physical signs of "need" (hunger or pain, for instance) is going to have thought processes similar to our own causing those physical expressions.

 

[Mathematician]

When I see people who adore animals (and pets in particular) I witness anthropomorphism more than anything else. This is particularly true for animals that we've domesticated. I don't see too many people - vegetarians included - show too much sympathy for the roach, snake, and other predators or pests who have no domesticated relatives.

I think it would be kind of naive to not see how every one of us has a pecking order in terms of providing for and protecting animals that are more like us more than the little worker ant. Dogs, cats, horses, and in certain cultures cows are easy to shower with human traits. Turkeys, rabbits, deer, chickens, eh, not so much. Bees? Not very likely.

 

[Madhuri]

I don't see too many people - vegetarians included - show too much sympathy for the roach, snake, and other predators or pests who have no domesticated relatives.

I do. I refuse to kill roaches and it hurts to see others killing them.

 

[Madhuri]

I believe there are many humans out there that can't relate well with people, but do well with animals. Usually it's because animals can't judge and call a person names or ridicule them. I made a thread a couple of months back about how some people spend more money and take better care of their dogs than themselves.

Yes, I know some people like this.

 

[Madhuri]

I think it would be kind of naive to not see how every one of us has a pecking order in terms of providing for and protecting animals that are more like us more than the little worker ant. Dogs, cats, horses, and in certain cultures cows are easy to shower with human traits. Turkeys, rabbits, deer, chickens, eh, not so much. Bees? Not very likely.

I think that humans definitely relate to care more for that which they can see/perceive. It's much easier to kill a fly because you can't see emotion or perceive its pain etc.

I think this is similar to how we humans are much more motivated to help people out if we actually witness their suffering. But for those of us who haven't seen starving children or trafficked sex slaves etc. we hardly even think about it what to speak of doing something about it.

So for sure there is an element in our biology that relies heavily on actual physical perception.

 

[Penumbra]

I am hoping for some answers from a scientific, evolutionary perspective.

Why do humans have relationships with animals? I am not talking about sexual relationships. I mean, why do we love and care and form kinship with animals?

I have always been a vegetarian. I have a lot of affection for animals in general. I see them as personalities, not as food.

So it confuses me when I see people who eat meat and talk about animals as being unintelligent, lacking in sentience etc. having pets and loving them.

From a biological or evolutionary perspective, why does our species develop relationships with animals? And why do animals form kinship with us?

Is it because on some level we recognise that these animals are intelligent, sentient individuals with emotion and needs similar to our own?

Humans, like many of the most intelligent animals, have evolved to be social animals. We survive best when we work together, and we have developed the emotions to allow that to happen.

I don't know the precise timeline for when humans domesticated various animals like wolves, cats, and cattle, but there was a very long period of time when our species existed as hunter-gatherers. In the grand scheme of things, agriculture is a fairly recent invention. Even before the invention of agriculture, people probably recognized a lot of the same qualities we recognize in animals today.

Considering that other social animals are sometimes capable of recognizing other species as worthy of affection and partnership if raised in the right circumstances, I'm not surprised that this goes for humans as well, and even more so due to our intelligence and our domestication practices. We're pretty much programmed to be compassionate towards faces, and due to our similarity with many other mammals, it's not surprising that this applies to more than just our species. In fact, I've been surprised and I've wondered about how mammals and parrots always seem willing and capable to look me in the eye- many of them can naturally recognize a face for what it is I guess.

I assume and observe that the reasons for humans loving animals is complex. We're social, and we love things in general, especially things with faces. But in addition, we're also sapient, and capable of analyzing other animals to see how similar they are to us and therefore capable of realizing scientifically that they basically are capable of feeling well-being and suffering just like we are. That's how someone like me, who isn't really much of an "animal person" or very emotional towards animals, can end up as a vegetarian and with a desire to reduce all possible suffering towards animals.

As for why people are capable of loving a dog, and yet capable of eating a pig, I assume it's due to compartmentalization but to be honest I don't really know. I've been known to bring up this inconsistency in debates regarding vegetarianism.

 

[Mathematician]

I think that humans definitely relate to care more for that which they can see/perceive. It's much easier to kill a fly because you can't see emotion or perceive its pain etc.

I think this is similar to how we humans are much more motivated to help people out if we actually witness their suffering. But for those of us who haven't seen starving children or trafficked sex slaves etc. we hardly even think about it what to speak of doing something about it.

So for sure there is an element in our biology that relies heavily on actual physical perception.

Well to be honest I'm the type of person that actually gets upset with someone who donates to animal charities but doesn't put a dime towards humans, so I think you and I have different biologies then... sex not being considered.

 

[Madhuri]

Well to be honest I'm the type of person that actually gets upset with someone who donates to animal charities but doesn't put a dime towards humans, so I think you and I have different biologies then... sex not being considered.

I'm not sure why you have classed me as someone who only cares about animal welfare.

 

[Mathematician]

I'm not sure why you have classed me as someone who only cares about animal welfare.

That's not the implication of my post. Sorry if it came off that way.

 

[Madhuri]

That's not the implication of my post. Sorry if it came off that way.

What did you mean then by saying that we have different biologies following that example which makes you upset?