Charles Darwin spent his entire life studying wild animals unfettered by the orthodoxy of professional academia and the crushing acceptance of anthropocentrism (human exceptionalism).
While two two his books, The Voyage of the Beagle (1839) and On the Origin of the Species (1859) propelled him to international prominence, The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals (1872) rewrote the nature of non-human animals and our relationship with them.
Darwin posited six emotional states: Happiness, sadness, fear, anger, surprise and disgusts across all species, noting that we are basically the same.
“The young and the old of widely different races, both with man and animals, express the same state of mind by the same movements.”
A number of scientists have built on Darwin’s work. Perhaps the most famous ethologist, Jane Goodall, rejected past practices where animals were referred to as, “It” and began naming them. “They have a name, whether you give it to them or not.”
We certainly see that with grizzly bears. It easy to see if cubs are angry, scared, playful, hungry. We have watched grizzlies like Felicia go from a carefree teenager to carrying the weight of motherhood. It turns out that adulting is hard across species.
While Grizzly 399 had been observed interacting with her daughter, Grizzly 610 in previous years, they spent a lot of time together when she had four cubs in 2020. We noticed them together or in proximity to each other much of the year. In September when 399 was manically looking for food we noticed that 610 with her two yearling males was regularly minutes to hours behind her. It appeared to us that 610 might be covering 399’s flank
The ability to communicate these complex thoughts and needs set us on the course toward studying ethology or the behavior of these bears. While not yet in a formal program we are now providing material and observations to an animal behavioralist, a professor at a university in the western U.S. More details in time…
