Honoring Nonhuman Sentience Is Good for Them and Us

By Marc Bekoff, Ph.D., and Marlon H. Reis, First Gentleman of Colorado.

Sentience, the ability to feel, is all around us, and almost daily we learn of the amazing sensory capacities of nonhuman animals (animals), many of whom most people likely wouldn't include in the "sentience club." In human society, we treasure uniqueness. We take pride in individuality and elevate the act of interpretation to an art form. We understand that diversity is to be celebrated. It is in the totality of our everyday experiences that we come to develop a "worldview", and thereby, an identity. It is in nonhuman societies the world over, wherein one finds each species living and experiencing life through their own, unique lens. The experiences of nonhuman lives are worthy of study precisely because they occur in such dazzling variety. The value of living derives not from its uniformity but from its multiplicity.

What humans think of as reality is only a reflection of what our senses can detect—and only a fraction of what is there

It is unquestionable that as we further develop our understanding and appreciation for nonhuman lives, so too will our relationship with the natural world evolve towards coexistence—live and let live in action.

Marlon remembers as a child, sitting for hours on end to watch his family cat, Callisto, as she stood with her front paws on their living room windowsill, and gazed out at something so captivating that it held her in rapt attention as the minutes passed. Often, he would gingerly make his way to sit beside her, hoping to see what she saw. Or perhaps it was to hear what she heard. Who can say? Animals lead rich and fulfilling lives when–as humans–we allow them to be themselves.

Gia

Source: David Mejias/with permission.

Years later, as a grown-up—if not entirely in mind, then at least in years lived—Marlon and the Governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, adopted their beloved dog, Gia. For the past 13 and a half years, it has been the highlight of their days to be by her side as they took their daily walks, which would more aptly be described as adventures. Even though Gia and Marlon may have paced the same sidewalks, hiked the same trails, and spent hours in the same parks–they've never lived the same day twice. Every time they venture out into the world, they watch in admiration as she chooses where to take them. You can tell things have changed in the hours between yesterday and today. Others—human and nonhuman—have come and gone, leaving behind evidence that they were there that only Gia can detect.¹

If it’s not yet obvious, we are very much in awe of Gia’s experience in the world. Just as Marlon's childhood cat saw and heard things he could not, Gia offers hints about the world she experiences every time she chooses a different path to pursue, a place to linger, and some days, when she turns Marlon back to return home.

What are Gia and other animals seeing, hearing, smelling, thinking, and feeling?

All we know is that the world as she experiences it is rich and complex and never the same. Her eagerness to get out the door in the morning reminds us that there is more to life than the four walls that so often box us in and cut us off from the natural world.

We have much to learn from animals. And we don’t have to be the same to justify being here. How we feel does not define the limits of how we feel. Nor, then, should it be the metric by which we measure how non-human animals feel. Life exists in so many ways, and that is what excites us each day when we ready ourselves to go to work and talk about why animals deserve to be here, to be protected, and to be acknowledged as fellow travelers on the road of life.

There aren't degrees of sentience. Joy, grief, and pain, for example, are personal, and comparing levels of these and other feelings within and between species is fraught with error. An individual's joy, grief, or pain is theirs alone, and speciesist comparisons are fraught with error because individuals of so-called "lower" species don't suffer less than individuals of "higher" species. And, of course, sentient or not, individual lives are important because of their inherent or intrinsic value because they are alive.

We know that non-human animals lead rich emotional lives through our own senses and sensations, but science provides the proof. They feel joy, sorrow, empathy, even embarrassment, and much more.

• Prairie dogs speak a complex language, form tight-knit social networks, and have a sense of home and family.
• Bison practice democracy, studies show that they more often elect female leaders. Maybe we can learn a thing or two.
• Elephant society is matriarchal, and we have long known the complexity of how they live and love and mourn their deceased.
• The platypus relies on an electric sense to find its prey. Its bill is covered in tens of thousands of microscopic sensors that can detect the weak electric fields of another.
• Bees choose physical expression, they dance to communicate the location of food. They are also extremely intelligent and sentient beings.

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Science shows there are numerous other examples of sentience among all vertebrates—highly diverse mammals, birds, fishes, reptiles, and amphibians—and invertebrates including insects, lobsters, octopuses, and crabs. In her book, Do Fish Feel Pain? Dr. Victoria Braithwaite wrote, "I have argued that there is as much evidence that fish feel pain and suffer as there is for birds and mammals—and more than there is for human neonates and preterm babies." (page 153)

We see only a ten trillionth of the electromagnetic spectrum. Imagine extending our range to perceive infrared heat like vampire bats or ultraviolet-like birds. Imagine experiencing the taste of a catfish, the touch of a star-nosed mole, the balance of a cheetah. Imagine opening our minds to the platypus’s improbable sense. Ultimately, the natural world might inspire a brave new world of human sentience.

We need a more inclusive mindset

Animals offer us so much for which to be thankful, including shared feelings that serve as "social glue." Humans need to comprehend life as it is lived through the senses and feelings of other animals. And in this work, we too gain a better understanding of our own role in nature and the important part we must play in protecting its balance.

Discovery is what wakes us up each morning. And discovery is what lulls us into dreaming each night. It is for other animals. It is for us all. It is essential to recognize and honor sentience in other animals and to use what we know on their behalf—a much-needed science- and common sense-based inclusive mindset.