Cross Species Empathy

Cross Species Empathy 

It is easy enough for us as humans to be able to relate to other animals because we understand how to be empathic. Take the example from the image above this comes from a nest cam that was put up online documenting the nesting habits of osprey. At first no one was really that interested in the nest. But all that changed with the two birds laid their eggs. Once the chicks had hatched the viewers went crazy with their comments on the feed. And when the chicks did not make it the site blew up like never before. It got to the point where the website had to be completely shut down because it could no longer handle the amount of visitors and comments that it was receiving! The reason this occurred is simple we as humans felt a level of empathy for the birds and that is what caused the extreme overuse of the site because we were able to relate to the birds struggles at raising a family on some levels.

But even the ability to feel empathy for other species is not unique just to humans. Some common examples come from our house pets like dogs and cats. They are able to notice changes in are moods and behaviors and will do their best to attempt to comfort us. This makes a lot of sense when you come to think about it because those kinds of animals have liven along side humans for a long time now. So it makes sense that they would learn to be able to pick up on humans emotions because it would have been vital to their upbringings and survival.