Do animals think and feel? | Sy Montgomery | TEDxAmoskeagMillyard

[@sweetsweetsleep...6149]

I can't understand why some people would ask "Do animals think and feel?" If they've ever owned a dog, a horse or a cow they would know that they do- if they paid any attention at all.

[@OfficialEDirty]

Yes they do and billions of them are slaughtered every year just because someone likes the way they taste.

[@anonymike8280]

It only shocked me when I found out that birds are people too.

[@kerivastine2376]

Not to mention humans are animals. Why would other animals be different?

[@sharonazar1]

I read her book "The Soul of an Octopus"...it is fascinating, tender, intelligent and beautiful...I am already a vegetarian and my hope is that everyone will one day join me...thus ending the suffering of animals...

[@billz.lawson9824]

How would being a vegetarian end the suffering of animals?

[@joannot6706]

Almost there buddy, you are concerned about animals, search why people become ethical vegans!

[@therawcaviat]

Hi. Just wondering if you are still vego or have gone to vegan to align with your fight against animal suffering?

[@carolkewley7410]

Great book.

[@MsTitiag]

Sharon Azar I hope you soon turn a Vegan. Eating dairy product, eggs & honey are the cause of terrible cruelty to cows, calfs, hens, chicks and bees! And of course I would suggest you watch the videos which show the horrendous cruelty to animals caused by humans who skin them alive to sell their fur or feathers! :'( GO VEGAN! ;)

[@kerivastine2376]

I do not understand how anyone can think OTHER animals don't have feelings but the human animal does! We are animals and most other animals get the SAME EMOTIONS as we do!

[@emilyd8884]

When she mentioned the octopus I immediately thought of that great documentary on netflix called my octopus teacher and I cried when I watched that

[@BrianFedirko]

Emotions happened evolutionarily. Fear is not an emotion, it's a physical response to the unknown. Love would be the first emotion in evolution on the planet, then mixing love with an amount of fear is what we name most of the other emotions. Hate is a logical invention of an inventive mind that requires language to formulate. We need to understand this ourselves before we superimpose our judgement about what animals are "thinking", though I believe this concept to be a beautiful one in our evolution. 🙂

[@chelamcguire]

A most tender and very informative presentation. Brought tears to my eyes. Splendid.

[@stormrider1375]

"The world is not a piece of machinery and animals are not manufactured for our use. Such views should be left to synagogues and philosophical lecture-rooms, which in essence are not so very different." - Arthur Schopenhauer

[@StarSong936]

I have Jacques Cousteau's book on his experience with octopi. He did some of the original research on these amazing creatures. Everything he documented, as far as I can tell from observations that came after, has since been verified. If the book is still available, I would recommend getting a copy and reading it.

[@drrupakapil]

One of the best talks ever

[@solecipollari]

Thank you very much for talking about animals, they need us so much. They just need us to be aware of their consciousness

[@jayceasar2661]

ofcourse animals think and feel...humans are just one of many animals to do so...its common sense

[@MsTitiag]

Sy, thank you so much for such a beautiful talk! Your warm voice took us close to all those intelligent and loving animals you mentioned. Thank you so much for making us aware of the beauty, tender and great intelligence of animals! I wish we deserved them! We don't. I'm a VEGAN! :*

[@flanneryred5755]

Octopuses are my favorite!!! And they also make and use tools!

[@rubybenge9301]

I always feel so sad when I hear about Alex. Dr. Irene pepper Berg did not allow Alex to live with her. Alex had to stay in the lab except when Dr. Pepper Berg was there during the weekdays to work with him. She made a conscious decision to do this because she thought it would make her research more acceptable to the research community. Alex died about half of his full lifespan of heart disease. Heart disease is caused by stress. For a hyper social species like a parrot to live alone is incredibly stressful. I have never heard of Dr. Pepper Berg acknowledging how she used Alex and how he died young from her used. There’s just such a heartlessness about some researchers. It’s quite troubling.

[@Lionesse-z41553]

I LOVE octopuses! I would love to have one in my life. It makes me sad that their lives are so short.

[@annagoolsby1842]

I find it incomprehensible that this is even a question. How can anyone think that animals dont think and/or feel??? what the heck? of course they do

[@jcochrane1000]

My home has an infestation of boston roaches. Once I put out some glue traps, which almost never work. I saw this roach start a run down where the counter and wall met. He got about two centimeters from the trap. He stopped and wandered about for a few seconds. You could feel his confusion. This wasn't there yesterday. Then he went to the wall and went up and over the trap to continue his run. that, to me showed abstract thinking.

[@AlexandraAlly92]

Deeply touching...

[@Daystar311]

How fascinating! I never really thought of an octopus this way before, so thank you for expanding my awareness to include these subjects more!

[@Madronaxyz]

Alex the parrot died very young from coronary artery disease. Dr. Pepperburg made the conscious and deliberate choice to isolate Alex in the lab--he did not live in her house. She did this to make her research pure. But for a necessarily social being like a parrot to be alone 16-20 hours per day is very stressful. The stress killed him. Dr. Pepperburg has never, to my knowlege, expressed remorse for this--at least no publicly. If she would express remorse, maybe other researchers would think about it before they tortured an extremely gregarious animal with social isolation.

[@Thundralight]

How presumptuous are people thinking they are not even conscious or do not feel and think. They just do not want to believe it due to the horrible way in which we have treated them.

[@PhillipRajcany]

Beautiful stories in this video, thank you for sharing.

[@intigniadickey2224]

I had a gold fish that lived in a bowl on my desk. When I came home from class each afternoon, he (I'm just guessing it was a he.) wanted me to feed him right away. If I decided to study first, he would come to the surface of the water and blow bubbles to distract me until I fed him.

[@shoshannafachima1306]

All creatures are sentient beings

[@mearls242]

what is your point?

[@cathyfonseca8859]

Love it!

[@hankjensen3439]

Nice speech. I did not like the macro evolution bits but I do agree that animals have feelings. I like your idea about picture thinking. And the fact that animals dream is fascinating as well. I have some thoughts about thoughts and feelings... BEFORE we can think, we need something in our memory to think about. This is where feelings come in. We are nurtured as babies and we begin forming memories based on these feelings. But then humans do something amazing. They start having very complex thoughts about these feelings. They search for truth. They search for logic. They stop basing their actions on how they feel and they start realizing that they can set their feelings aside and they can create, manipulate and destroy things. I don't think that we killed off the animals that evolved into beings that can communicate with us on a higher level. They just never existed. Why not? It seems fairly logical to conclude they should exist. It does seem to me that connection (love) is most pure and heartfelt when it is simple and without the complexity of human thought. We just can't help manipulating other people with our thoughts and beliefs. We could all just get some fuzzy puppies and stop procreating. Maybe in one billion years all those fuzzy puppies will turn into hairless humans, say hey we are just luck of the draw, fall in love with fuzzy puppies, stop procreating and start the cycle again. Sorry, I'm off on a tangent. I try not to ever comment on posts for this reason. Thank you for sharing and good luck with your studies. :)

[@michelleolachea]

I really need to understand that there's very smart People that study animals and people like me can probably make it can happen... I have no idea...but I would want to know if i could help

[@christhedemocrat]

There's a fundamental flaw in the creation. Animals eat other animals every day without regard for the feeling of other animals. The main consequence of human predation is that we are irresponsible and unusually cruel to our pray. We'll hunt our pray to extinction. Side note, eating vegetarian noticeably, will have you feeling,thinking and enjoying life better.

[@Harriemes]

Human is a herbivore, certainly not a hunter, not even a severely disabled one. Don't just eat vegan, but BE a vegan. Vegetarianism is lazy, ment to make you feel good about yourself.

[@michellemartinov5844]

How do you know that animals have no regard for their prey? You cannot know their minds. Animals kill to survive whether it’s for food or their mate or their children. They do not do so with malice unlike humans.

[@campanda1875]

Animals are smarter than us

[@kentneumann5209]

To keep your octopus occupied I would suggest you just leave it in the wild, where it belongs. I mean, if its a pet. Scientific study is a different thing.

[@brendascorah3649]

How would you feel as a sentient feeling animal being locked in a small aquarium for entertainment? What crime did they commit to deserve this treatment?

[@DB-re1dt]

Best ever.

[@OfficialEDirty]

Cows , pigs and chickens feel too but people still pay for billions of them to be slaughtered every year just because they like the way they taste.

[@barbarahecht4617]

You're absolutely right!! Shame on me for eating all those cows, pigs, and chickens!!

[@OfficialEDirty]

@@barbarahecht4617 no different from any other animal in all the ways that matter.

[@michellemartinov5844]

It horrifies me when I see people eating live baby octopi as I know how intelligent they are. And frankly does it matter “if an animal is as intelligent as us” for that animal to feel,to suffer? We as humans can be truly inhumane.

[@MeMe-od2mg]

I do believe they think and feel. Yet why do they need to have those traits to be even respected? There are many species on Earth why can't we live in harmony and respect each other?

[@lelebye1129]

How can we know if other persons think and feel...?

[@allatgoddess8961]

This lady is a step behind in her research. In fact, the "animals" can read your mind! She should do studies on Mind to Mind Communication/ Inter-species. She's fascinated with octopuses, but surely she must realize that the creatures they eat, have cosnciousnesses, too! THe crabs they eat feel pain and terror of being killed. Eh?

[@Harriemes]

Octopuses are not herbivorous, but it is immoral to turn this eating into a game, as a spectacle for scientists. Scientists who haven't even got the right to hold somebody captive!

[@michellemartinov5844]

We are the only species that kills for fun, for sport. We are truly horrific in how we produce our food if you will. If you had to work at a slaughterhouse, you might think twice before eating the way you do. Or maybe you wouldn’t care - which is why we need more people like this young lady.

[@joscreemers4360]

@@michellemartinov5844 Domestic cats kill for fun!! But I know what you are trying to say. Humans are driving by emotions of greed and ignorance. We all say we love animals but our actions don't always reflect our words. What have we all done to protect these vulnerable creatures? Did you quit your job to help endangered animals? No, most of us don't. But it makes us feel good to say we care about animals. Not having a go. Just reflecting on how self centered most of us are

[@c1j2m3f4]

moving...

[@Surferjoe88]

Battling between the concept of emotion and instinct. Can they coexist? Are "friendships" between human and animals rooted in emotion. Or are humans instinctively seen by animals as means to and end.

[@topsyturvygirl]

of course they can, you have both of them. We all do

[@shuepsx652]

Even human interactions and relationships can be seen as a mean to an end. Emotions are instinctive, you can not set them apart...

[@Harriemes]

Befriend the person who keeps you in captivity? No.

[@patriotsongs]

@@Harriemes Perhaps they don't see it as captivity. Perhaps it's survival, and even more than survival. Perhaps they find emotional satisfaction from the interaction.

[@beautifulcatastrophe]

Awesome 👍👍👍

[@joeguzman3558]

In the real animal world it's all about survival they eat the weaker ones , when they became domisticate they don't have to because humans feed them.

[@gg-si1zb]

Mcnamara gang!

[@kentneumann5209]

Electric eels dream of electric sheep.

[@thirdborn_sentinel]

How is anyone asking this question in 21st century?

[@YourBeingParanoid]

I hop that when the octopus in the sky come down in their ufos, we humans will enjoy being farmed for food and entertainment.

[@daveogarf]

"Voltmeter", NOT "VolTIMeter"

[@kentneumann5209]

I did not know a human could receive a blood transfusion from a chimp.

[@ellygreening5616]

how unconfortable was I at the beginning of this talk

[@filkoske6139]

I dunno, Is water wet?

[@shamaniworld528]

2024-25 Update Please

[@eschwarz1003]

Cetaceans?

[@Maximus-gp7td]

Do animals think and feel? What kind of question is that? Isn't it obvious????

[@anonymike8280]

No grrl. It should not surprise us that we are like them.

[@MegaCashmagnet]

The sound quality could be better.

[@lorihowell1032]

You cannot make a slaughterhouse humane.

[@ireneippolito7535]

This video is frustrating because it talks about animal sentience without challenging animal agriculture. The moral baseline is veganism because we can live healthy lives without using products manufactured from the bodies of animals.

[@johnnyrose6052]

I mean seriously, if we were to Realize that Animals can think and feel...... then the Logical next step,is to Realize, we should NOT kill them. Geeze

[@johnnyrose6052]

Sorry, but Hate folks killing animals..... And there is No such thing as "Humane Slaughter" !!!!!! So making it "kinder" to kill them, NOPE !!!!!!!

[@hangmingzheng8619]

The nutty lead monthly wobble because talk implicitly overflow throughout a childlike passenger. husky, crowded africa

[@chrismason5477]

The sturdy pipe microbiologically notice because lamp rapidly reduce despite a ubiquitous probation. organic, expensive dill

[@barbarahecht4617]

Chris Mason- haven't we had this conversation before in another comment section? I am feeling a considerable amount of deja vu here...

[@haiguyzimnew]

Her delivery upsets me; at times it sounds way too rehearsed, like she's not speaking to the audience, but reading verbatim from a book. She's a writer, and it's obvious, but not in a good way. It's so cringey.

[@billz.lawson9824]

Pretty much all TED talks sound like that to me. Like the speaker is reading a bedtime story to the audience.

[@prakashvaghela1656]

@u7lz -

[@pumpernikelful]

5:36 - I don't agree - we need language to think, introspection, interior monologue, abstract thinking need inner words and notions, if don't have notions of things - we don't even realize does they exist, we don't have consciousness of things...

[@PrincessParanormal-s3n]

Not everyone has an internal monologue. My dog knows which toy he wants and goes looking for it, he pauses and then runs off comes back with the toy happy as Larry. Granted sometimes he gets distracted by the toy but most of the time he’s made a decision to find it.

[@klattalexis]

Evolution is still only a THEORY! I cannot have much credibility with this evolutionist lady. Sorry but some of us still believe in CREATION!

[@Madchuck42]

yep, agree... evolution is past being an hypothesis... creationism never even became an idea outside of bedtime story books for the slower kids... enjoy your fictional book!!!

[@cutekoala]

A scientific theory is an explanation of an aspect of the natural world and universe that can be repeatedly tested and verified in accordance with the scientific method, using accepted protocols of observation, measurement, and evaluation of results. Where possible, theories are tested under controlled conditions in an experiment.[1][2] In circumstances not amenable to experimental testing, theories are evaluated through principles of abductive reasoning. Established scientific theories have withstood rigorous scrutiny and embody scientific knowledge.[3] A scientific theory differs from a scientific fact or scientific law in that a theory explains "why" or "how": a fact is a simple, basic observation, whereas a law is a statement (often a mathematical equation) about a relationship between facts.

[@runyanproperties2302]

The word "theory" in Science has two different meanings. Evolution is not a "theory" in the way you are referring to it.

[@gokulnaathbaskar9808]

Go Vegan.