When a horse sweats, the temperature declines by 2.5 C, and dissipates 60% of total heat produced (McConaghy 1994)
One expert writes, "Service dogs perform tasks such as operating light switches, retrieving items, pulling wheelchairs, and opening doors. Hearing dogs assist people who are deaf or hearing impaired by alerting them to sounds such as telephone rings, crying infants, alarms, and people calling them by name" (Henderson)
This family was faced with eviction because their landlord did not believe their Autistic son needed or warranted a service animal. He stated, "If he was blind, that would be different'" (Tilton)
The perpetrator didn't assault or rob me. It was clear that my dog was a guide dog used to assist someone who is blind'" (Wolfe)
In Animals are Machines, Descartes notes, "there are (no humans) so depraved and stupid, without even excepting idiots, that they cannot arrange different words together, forming of them a statement by which they make known their thoughts, while, on the other hand, there is no other animal, however perfect and fortunately circumstanced it may be, which can do the same." As a result of the human ability to think, Descartes argued that humans alone (and not animals) were able to feel the mechanical sensations of the body (Abram)
Through this argument, he notes that all that we can ever truly know about the world comes from our own thoughts. As such, humans learn about the external universe through a priori knowledge within our mind (Palmer)
Before addressing the contemporary state of zoos in regards to animal welfare, it will be useful to first consider the history of zoos in general, because this historical context will help demonstrate how zoos have always represented a balance between conservancy and entertainment, even as this balance has shifted dramatically in recent decades. The earliest recording of something like a zoo comes from wall sculptures found in the tomb "of Mereruka, son-in-law of Pharaoh Teti of the 6th Dynasty" of ancient Egypt, and date to roughly 2300 BC (Bostock 7)
Put another way, "a long life cannot be good if the zoo fails to provide fitting conditions," even as "on average, animals live much longer in zoos than in nature" (Wickins-Drazilova 28). This is why, for example, the argument that "elephants live better in captivity than in the wild with disease, drought, habitat loss, poaching, and conflicts with people" does not make a sufficient case for keeping these animals in zoos; just because elephants might live shorter lives in the wild, and occasionally die more violent deaths, this does not mean that the quality of their lives are necessarily worse than their captive counterparts (Cohn 714)
For example, one of the most oft-touted benefits of contemporary zoos is their breeding programs, which ostensibly exist in order "to conserve species and train future generations of conservationists," and the belief that animal welfare is represented by successful reproduction supports this notion (Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute 2012). While maintaining biological diversity and saving endangered species through breeding programs is undoubtedly a positive endeavor, it has also been ripe for exploitation, because "many zoos reproduced animals in large numbers in the name of protecting wild animal species but in fact they used them for dealing with other wild animal parks but not for protecting and expanding the species" (Cui & Jiang 137)
This is especially true because the rise of zoos produced a kind of side-industry, in which animal dealers could make a tidy profit importing animals from distant regions. These dealers would sell animals to zoos, but failing that, were able to sell to "circuses that were expanding their menageries and trained animal acts, private fanciers of animals and birds, the pet trade, and laboratories" (Hanson 73-74)
Most contemporary zoos "claim that having healthy, long-lived animals that reproduce is sufficient proof of good care," and indeed, the fact that Willie B. "soon adjusted to life in a social group, became a father, and evidently lived happily until his death in February 2000 at the age of forty-one" has been seen as justification for the ethical soundness of contemporary animal exhibits (Wickins-Drazilova 27, Hanson 1)
There are activities which have been taught to different species of animals and they have shown remarkable improvement in their mastery, they include hand washing, dish washing, swimming and unsealing of container leads among others. Since animals do not have a large brain capacity to accommodate such acts, normally the types of behaviors taught to these animals are usually simple and straightforward to master (Heyes, 1996)
During those times and even now, primates are more commonly used in an experiment to find out whether there is culture among animals because of their proximity in resemblance to human beings. This theory relies on the fact that there are some cultural traits which are developed as a result of repeating the same event daily or as a routine practice in an animal's life (Laland, 2009)
Animal culture is slowly gaining popularity; it entails social transmission of behavior among animal species from generation to generation. Cross-Cultural Capability in animals also deals with the values and skills impacted on an animal to enable it to live and interrelate with other creatures in a multicultural way (Whitehead, 2010)
I should wish her to be brought up in a manner suiting her prospects," continued my benefactress; "to be made useful, to be kept humble: as for the vacations, she will, with your permission, spend them always at Lowood." (Bronte, 1922, p
"Angel in the House was immensely popular and sold a quarter of a million copies in his lifetime." (Oliver, 1956, p
Only a Victorian could have written the Angel in the House, with its philosophy of love set in that secure era of prosperous rural deans and beautiful girls who have little else to do but order the house and enjoy the pleasures of country society. (Patmore, 1949, p
"She told me the better I behave the better I should be treated, and that it was wisest to always do my best to please my master." (Sewell, 1907, p
The supervisors at the rescue farm allowed Harper to be present while Kohl was put down. "When his friend was lying still, dead, on the ground, Harper came over to his friend and put his neck over top of his friend and laid there, and just sat with the body" (Langley, 2013)
Crows, too, mourn their dead, according to a story in Mother Nature Network. It is known that crows form life-long bonds, and it is also known that when a crow dies, other crows "…flock to the bodies of their deceased, diving and swooping and emitting a call that summons other birds" (Moss, 2013)