Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals

The text attempts to answer the question, “What do animals need in order to be happy?” (1). Farms, zoos, and pet owners must all consider welfare standards in the course of caring for animals, and the author contends that merely addressing animals’ behavior does not allow humans to create positive conditions for them. Arguing that emotions drive behavior, Grandin asserts that the best way to ensure that an animal leads a happy, healthy life is to look at “the core emotional systems of the brain” (3). By way of example, she cites gerbils. In the wild, gerbils dig complex tunnel systems in which to burrow. In captivity, they often develop the habit of digging excessively in the corners of their enclosures; this is a stress behavior. Scientists provided one group of gerbils with soft sand in which to dig and another with pre-made burrow systems. The gerbils that were given sand still developed excessive digging behavior, while the group with ready-made burrows did not. The conclusion of the study was that gerbils are fearful animals that need safety, not the freedom to dig. Emotions, not behavior, were at the core of the gerbils’ problem.

Neuroscience has shown that animals, like humans, have core emotional systems in their brains.