Understanding and Assessing Emotions in Marine Mammals Under Professional Care

Fabienne Delfour,Aviva Charles

doi:10.46867/ijcp.2021.34.00.01

Abstract

In the last 30 years, concerns about animal emotions have emerged from the general public but also from animal professionals and scientists. Animals are now considered as sentient beings, capable of experiencing emotions such as fear or pleasure. Understanding animals’ emotions is complex and important if we want to guarantee them the best care, management, and welfare. The main objectives of the paper are, first, to give a brief overview of various and contemporary assessments of emotions in animals, then to focus on particular zoo animals, that is, marine mammals, since they have drawn a lot of attention lately in regards of their life under professional care. We discuss here 1 approach to monitor their emotions by examining their laterality to finally conclude the importance of understanding animal emotion from a holistic welfare approach.

Highlights

In the last 30 years, concerns about animal emotions have emerged from the general public and from animal professionals and scientists
The main objectives of the paper are, first, to give a brief overview of various and contemporary assessments of emotions in animals, to focus on particular zoo animals, that is, marine mammals, since they have drawn a lot of attention lately in regards of their life under professional care
In the three last decades, we have witnessed a growing interest in animal emotions coming from public concerns for animal welfare, welfare scientists, zoologists, neuroscientists, and animal professionals working in zoos for instance

Summary

Introduction

In the last 30 years, concerns about animal emotions have emerged from the general public and from animal professionals and scientists. In a revised version of the emotional Stroop task, rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta) that have experienced a stressor (i.e., presumably stressful veterinary exam) slowed their responses to mildly threatening stimuli (i.e., direct gaze) compared to their speed to respond during a baseline period (Bethell et al, 2016). The authors named this response cognitive freeze and urged scientists to consider the response-slowing paradigm

Objectives

Results

Conclusion