When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson Page B
Authors: Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson
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brought down, attempted to get up again. While being blindfolded she went into shock, falling limp. Pandora had injured herself only slightly in this struggle, so it seems the reaction was the result of her intense fear. (After being collared, she was revived with smelling salts and released, showing no ill effects.)
In Africa a buffalo was knocked down, but not injured, by a lion, and simply lay on the ground in shock while the lion (perhaps an inexperienced animal) chewed on the buffalo's tail. Such an instance is another demonstration that fear does not always lead to survival.
B
rave as a Lion
Bravery, sometimes considered an emotion, is related to fear-fulness. Unfortunately bravery, or courage, is poorly defined in humans, so it is difficult to look for it in animals. It is often considered to involve proceeding against fear, overriding it or setting it aside. But is a dangerous act brave if you have no fear when you do it? Or is it only brave if you are afraid?
Hans Kruuk reports several instances in which cow and calf wildebeest were pursued by hyenas. In each case, when the hyenas caught up with the calf, the mother turned and attacked the hyenas, butting them so fiercely as to bowl them over. Perhaps this counts as bravery. Without a calf, a wildebeest cow keeps running. Surely fear makes her run. On the other hand, a human in a parallel situation may declare, "I was so angry I forgot to be scared." Perhaps a mother wildebeest is so angry she forgets fear. Is she brave?
For a nature program about cheetahs on television, a lioness was filmed killing a litter of cheetah cubs. While she was still there, the mother cheetah returned. Seeing the lion, the cheetah circled, hesitated, and then darted close to the lion until the lion pursued her. The cubs had already been killed, though the cheetah probably didn't know this. The mother cheetah evidently feared that the
FK4R, HOPE, AND THE TERRORS OF DREAMS
lion would kill her cubs and also feared being attacked by the (much larger) lion. Her attempt to draw the lion away seems to qualify as a brave act. After the lion was gone, the cheetah found the dead cubs, picked one up, and carried it away. During a sudden storm she was filmed sitting in the rain, crouched over the cub's body. When the rain stopped, she trotted off without a backw ard look.
Charles Darwin, too, was interested in animal bravery and gave the following account:
Several years ago a keeper at the Zoological Gardens showed me some deep and scarcely healed wounds on the nape of his own neck, inflicted on him, whilst kneeling on the floor, by a fierce baboon. The little American monkey, who was a warm friend of this keeper, lived in the same compartment, and was dreadfully afraid of the great baboon. Nevertheless, as soon as he saw his friend in peril, he rushed to the rescue, and by screams and bites so distracted the baboon that the man was able to escape, after, the surgeons thought, running great risk to his life.
For Darwin, then, it was clear that a "mere" monkey could be a friend and a brave one at that. For this he was severely criticized by a modem scientist for his "tendency to anthropomorphize animal behavior," noting "it is small wonder that he was able to find evidence of all the human attributes [in animals], even moral behavior and bravery." It apparently upsets some scientists deeply for Danvin of all people to tell a story about the bravery of a small monkey who puts his own genetic future at risk for the sake of a member of another species, with whom he developed not dependence, but warm friendship. B?-ave7j and courage are not words scientists are eager to see applied to a monkey by the founder of evolutionary theory.
Elephant calves, like mountain goat kids or bear cubs, do not always fear what their elders think they should. Cynthia Moss, who studies elephants in Kenya, reports that very young calves appear largely fearless. They may come up to her Land Rover and ex-
nni:\
In Africa a buffalo was knocked down, but not injured, by a lion, and simply lay on the ground in shock while the lion (perhaps an inexperienced animal) chewed on the buffalo's tail. Such an instance is another demonstration that fear does not always lead to survival.
B
rave as a Lion
Bravery, sometimes considered an emotion, is related to fear-fulness. Unfortunately bravery, or courage, is poorly defined in humans, so it is difficult to look for it in animals. It is often considered to involve proceeding against fear, overriding it or setting it aside. But is a dangerous act brave if you have no fear when you do it? Or is it only brave if you are afraid?
Hans Kruuk reports several instances in which cow and calf wildebeest were pursued by hyenas. In each case, when the hyenas caught up with the calf, the mother turned and attacked the hyenas, butting them so fiercely as to bowl them over. Perhaps this counts as bravery. Without a calf, a wildebeest cow keeps running. Surely fear makes her run. On the other hand, a human in a parallel situation may declare, "I was so angry I forgot to be scared." Perhaps a mother wildebeest is so angry she forgets fear. Is she brave?
For a nature program about cheetahs on television, a lioness was filmed killing a litter of cheetah cubs. While she was still there, the mother cheetah returned. Seeing the lion, the cheetah circled, hesitated, and then darted close to the lion until the lion pursued her. The cubs had already been killed, though the cheetah probably didn't know this. The mother cheetah evidently feared that the
FK4R, HOPE, AND THE TERRORS OF DREAMS
lion would kill her cubs and also feared being attacked by the (much larger) lion. Her attempt to draw the lion away seems to qualify as a brave act. After the lion was gone, the cheetah found the dead cubs, picked one up, and carried it away. During a sudden storm she was filmed sitting in the rain, crouched over the cub's body. When the rain stopped, she trotted off without a backw ard look.
Charles Darwin, too, was interested in animal bravery and gave the following account:
Several years ago a keeper at the Zoological Gardens showed me some deep and scarcely healed wounds on the nape of his own neck, inflicted on him, whilst kneeling on the floor, by a fierce baboon. The little American monkey, who was a warm friend of this keeper, lived in the same compartment, and was dreadfully afraid of the great baboon. Nevertheless, as soon as he saw his friend in peril, he rushed to the rescue, and by screams and bites so distracted the baboon that the man was able to escape, after, the surgeons thought, running great risk to his life.
For Darwin, then, it was clear that a "mere" monkey could be a friend and a brave one at that. For this he was severely criticized by a modem scientist for his "tendency to anthropomorphize animal behavior," noting "it is small wonder that he was able to find evidence of all the human attributes [in animals], even moral behavior and bravery." It apparently upsets some scientists deeply for Danvin of all people to tell a story about the bravery of a small monkey who puts his own genetic future at risk for the sake of a member of another species, with whom he developed not dependence, but warm friendship. B?-ave7j and courage are not words scientists are eager to see applied to a monkey by the founder of evolutionary theory.
Elephant calves, like mountain goat kids or bear cubs, do not always fear what their elders think they should. Cynthia Moss, who studies elephants in Kenya, reports that very young calves appear largely fearless. They may come up to her Land Rover and ex-
nni:\
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