Daily Cascade

Animals' Feelings

Prompt:
“You cannot share your life in a meaningful way with any animals such as a dog, cat, rabbit, bird, rat, pig, horse and so many more and not know that we are not the only sentient and sapient beings on the planet.” — Jane Goodall

Let this quote inspire your entry by trying this unusual form of poetry that posted in his group "~ The Poet's Place Cafe~"
The Alphabestiary is a special variation of the Acrostic form where each letter of the alphabet represents an animal, as described and demonstrated in the following link: https://www.poetrymagnumopus.com/topic/1249-alphabestiary/

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I so agree with Jane Goodall, if only because of my puny and personal experiences with animals. This is anthropomorphism, said a friend who didn't think that animals had feelings. So I looked up anthropomorphism. It means, "the tendency to attribute human emotions, motives, and behaviors to non-human creatures." Well, in my mind, my experience weighs more heavily than what anyone or any belief system that defines anything without any reliable experience.

In animals, especially in pets, there is a capacity for grief and mourning. I'll accept no denials on that. When my great uncle died, my uncle's dog sat holding a shoe of great uncle's. We all saw the tears come down from the dog's eyes. I was thirteen at the time and didn't even think or know that a dog's anatomy had the capacity for for shedding tears. It is also said that some mammals like primates and elephants show grief behaviors by staying by the dead body for days, touching the body with their arms and trunks, and displaying signs of distress.

Then, over the years, my own dog and many cats have shown empathy to me especially if I was unhappy. When I was nineteen or so, when my mother was seriously ill, I started sobbing downstairs in the kitchen while I was preparing something to eat for her. My gray cat, at the time, jumped on the table and started licking my face and trying to console me. The dogs also were very keen with my emotions and when and if they sensed someone telling me something negative, they would growl and bark at the other person. My cats, too, would always snuggle to me if they thought I was upset.

My late cat, Noche, knew my pain and commiserated with me by gently tapping her paws on my foot when I arthritis hit my ankle joint. She did that with many other things, also, and not only with the negative events but the positive ones, too. When I felt happy and giddy, she'd jump up on the highest places and then jump down and become very playful. She was also very interested in my books and notebooks, touching them and resting her head on one of them, probably because she knew they were important to me.

Recently, animals feeling with us may have been proven at least to some point. Neuroscientific studies shows that the brain regions for emotions, the amygdala and prefrontal cortex, are similar or the same across mammals, which may mean that animals can experience the same or similar human emotions. I also read in several findings that the production of oxytocin is common to both humans and most other mammals.

As to the "~ The Poet's Place Cafe~"  link, it needs a passkey, and as to Alphabestiary, I found numerous books on sale which are mostly for kids.