Thank you, Jane
You may have heard that Jane Goodall died last week. Goodall did what most of us aim for: She left the world a better place than she found it. She completely changed our view of apes, worked tirelessly for conservation, and brought attention to the climate crisis.
But the thing that has always impressed me most about Goodall was that she put the first big crack in the taboo against anthropomorphism in the scientific study of non-human animals. Seeing human characteristics in non-human animals was once so frowned upon in scientific circles that researchers who violated the taboo could not only have their research findings completely dismissed (or worse, never published) but lose all scientific credibility, ruining their careers.
Of course there’s good reason to avoid looking at all animals through the lens of humans. To assume non-human animals are just furry humans that don’t speak is to miss what they’re really like. Dolphins aren’t smiling at you. That’s just the way their faces are made. And when your cat stalks off to take a nap in the middle of a ball-tossing game, she’s probably not angry with you. When cats get tired, they go rest. Assumptions like these are examples of anthropomorphism at its extreme. Good researchers avoid that.
However, if we’re so terrified of anthropomorphizing that we ignore similarities between humans and other animals, we risk missing the traits we do share. This attitude has caused plenty of researchers to deny that animals have emotions, such as fear and love, and even to deny that they’re capable of suffering.
Fortunately, those days are (mostly) gone. Researchers are now able to separate themselves from their research subjects enough to see non-human animals for what they are, while still being aware of traits that are similar to ours.
And for that we have Jane Goodall to thank.
Stay curious!
Avery
Image by Nick Stepowyj, CC 2.0