My Reflections on Understanding Animal Emotions for Improving the Life of Animals in Zoos

Abstract

Scientists are often reluctant to attribute emotions to nonhuman animals that are similar to human emotions. When the author published her early studies, reviewers prohibited the word fear. Fearful behavior had to be described as agitated. The core emotional systems described by Panksepp may provide a useful framework for people who work hands-on with animals. The core systems are fear, rage, panic (separation distress), seek, lust, nurture, and play. Some scientists who deny that animals have real emotions often fail to review important areas of the literature. The areas that are sometimes left out are the effects of psychiatric medications on animals and genetic influences on differences in animal behavior. In both people and animals, genetics has an influence on both fearfulness and novelty seeking. Visualizing the seven core emotional systems as separate volume controls on a music mixing board may help zoo professionals determine the motivation of both normal and abnormal behavior. It may also help them to design more effective environmental enrichments.

The Neurobiology of Behavior and Its Applicability for Animal Welfare: A Review

“…In wildlife under human care, the appetitive phase evoked by activity of this neurocircuitry is used in operant conditioning programs, especially for a food reward. As mentioned by Grandin [ 30 ], encouraging the seeking system motivates learning when animals know they will receive a reward. This is frequently applied in sea lions during daily training sessions, in whom anticipatory behavior is considered an indicator of good welfare [ 31 , 32 ].…”