The Conative Spectrum of Other Species

Abstract

In an essay in his Psychology Today column, Dr. Marc Bekoff provides a perfect overview of the fast changing nature of neurobiology as it continues to reveal fundamentals about other species that are critical to anthrozoology for the twenty-first century, minds that act upon thoughts and feelings. The key is that all other species are now seen to possess the brain neurophysiology (those species that have brains) endowing them with the same preconditions for consciousness as we think of it among humans. This is, indeed, a game changer; our own doors of perception being blown wide open. Sea snails, which frequently live but one year, have demonstrated that in their old age some can become senile and their nerves have been studied which suggest precisely where senescence—perhaps with analogies to humans—is centered. They were actually “trained” by scientists (harassed with electric shocks and poking would be a better description of the training) to move their tails, and the reflex movements were measured according to the increasingly sluggish responses, deemed to translate into the onset of senility. Moreover, Giant California black sea hares, a cousin of sea snails weighing up to 30 lbs, have shown other evolved skills: ejection of ink-like clouds filled with amino acids that detract hare predators, like spiny lobsters, for a long enough duration to enable the hares to escape.