Something I have been noticing a lot lately, but always have taken note of, are animals that seem to have a deeper... something... in their emotions and intelligence. I have seen it in most mammal species.
Tiny example:
Everyone has run over an animal such as a squirrel or a raccoon if they have driven much.
Usually if they are in a pair or a group, the others don't bat an eye and just scurry off.
The other day I came around a curve and a squirrel was sitting by its dead buddy in the road. I slowed down and he didnt move but a few steps out of the way. I passed and watched in my mirror and it went back to its companion and sat as if grieving.
There are multiple possibilties but bear in mind these were 10 miles out a backroad. Squirrels and other animals not familiar with human traffic, do not behave like those in more urban areas. They are much more leery of unnatural things to their habitat. They damn sure don't stick around when a truck goes by. In fact their fear is often their undoing.
So what posessed this particular animal to stay with his companion?
Either this squirrel was experiencing sadness and grieving or it was trying to help its buddy even risking great danger to do so.
Dogs tend to have this, "extra something" trait more often than many species. Their intelligence can be very superior to other animals.
Still all of them do not really act at all alike emtionally. Some dogs have their owner die and tear apart the house looking for food or possibly even make a meal of the owners corpse if left long enough.
My grandfather witnessed a seven or eight year old dog literally starve itself to death after the passing of it's owner. It simply wished to die and did. Some may find that hard to believe. It was an extreme cause of a common thing though. Many dogs wont eat for many days after the passing of its owner or a companion.
I once was a herd manager a a 2,000 head dairy farm. These cattle were treated like equipment.
They all had basically no personality. Eat, shit, and travel back and forth from milking parlor to pasture.
One little jersey cow absolutely would not let me herd her with the others. When you are driving 300-500 head down an alley the cows in rear usually push the ones in front and just try to stay the hell away from the herdsman.
This jersey cow would either follow or walk beside me. If I got behind her she would stop like a rock in the road and you could not push her.
She would lick me and actually helped drive the others.
The strangest thing about her was she would look at me like she was studying me. 2k other cattle would give blank stares and move away but not this one. She would rub up against me with her head and simply did not act like a cow.
She was full of personality though she had grown up with and lived under the same circumstances as the others.
Literally the only way to depart from this cow and get her in the holding lot was to walk in and get her to follow, pet her for a bit and walk out. She was part of the team.
I have seen a couple of horses not like the others as well. I could go on forever about one horse that was simply much more emotionally involved than any other I have seen.
I have seen a pitbull sequestered from people for a few days literally cry, basically hugging me, laying in my lap moaning for nearly an hour when I got back from a hospital stay. It was scary absurd behavior. It was a deeper sense of happiness/sadness and empathy than I have ever seen another animal display.
The thing that astonishes me is how rare it is and why only a fraction of a fraction of a percent, posess this special trait.
People may see it as just a random anomaly, instinct, or just a human projecting their own empathy onto an animal, creating something in their mind that really isn't.
I am not that emotionally attached to animals. The dog that bawled in my lap, jersey cow, horse... They really didn't mean that much to me until they displayed that exceptional trait. After that they were unforgettable.
What in the hell is it that they have the others don't? A soul? Actual human-like empathy? More intelligence? A combination?
Many people have seen or had a dog that simply was nothing like others. It was emotionally exceptional. I have never had a dog like that, the pitbull was my brothers, but it knew me well. I have had several dogs and they were all pretty much average.... Dogs. I am not speaking about an animal that does tricks for treats or pets. Every dog does that and thats not the type of capacity for love I am inquiring about.
I want people to share their story of experiences like this.
What is your story?
What do you think it is?
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Originally Posted by almostgone
