# Which animals show humans love? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 17, 2008, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343 "2008-10-17T05:02:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343/41 "2008-10-17T22:13:56Z")
Cows and chickens will seek out humans, but just for food handouts I think. Neither species seems much smarter than the average carrot, and I don’t think either experiences or displays “love.” Hogs, on the other hand, will seek out their human friends just for a good belly-scratching, or to go for a walk. They really seem to enjoy the companionship, in just the same way as dogs. I had a pet pig when I was a kid, and I could step out on the porch and say, “Let’s go for a walk!” and she would start running around in circles and squealing with excitement. If I were standing in the yard, she would sidle up to me and lean hard against me until she either knocked me over or I caved in to her demand for affection and scratched her belly. I never saw those sorts of behaviors from cows or chickens, though I had “pets” of those species, too. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343/42 "2008-10-17T22:21:33Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > And what’s so special about love that claiming an animal can have it is unthinkable ? There is nothing whatsoever special about love. “Love” is what humans call a chemical response of the body to millions of years of reproductive urge. Just because we can verbalize and categorize what we feel doesn’t make it any less a physical issue. Dogs can be loyal to their pack and have an attachment to their pack, but to call it “love” is nonsense. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343/43 "2008-10-17T22:24:37Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > Cows and chickens will seek out humans, but just for food handouts I think I would disagree as I said, the lady I know with the chickens, she just comes out and sits down and the chickens run up to her and try to sit in her lap. They like to be petted. Granted she had pick them up and put them in her lap originally but now they seek her out. She’ll pet one and the other hens wait by her legs and when she puts it back down another one’ll hop up. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Second\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbe5ce/32.png) [@The\_Second\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Second_Stone)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343/44 "2008-10-17T22:28:55Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > Personally, I think you’re anthropomorphizing. No animals express love for humans—they simply engage in prosurvivalistic behavior which we interpret as affection. The question would be more accurately phrased as ‘which domesticated animals both seek out, and derive pleasure from, human interaction’? Not very many, in my estimation. Dogs, cats, other primates—that’s all I can think of off the top of my head. Maybe ferrets—I’ve heard that they are unique among the pocket pets in that they will initiate contact with their peeps. I’ve been they told will hop up your leg looking for a little scrithin’. Bearded dragons appear to enjoy being stroked, but they don’t actively seek it out. I’ve also read that tortoises will follow you around the house if you stroke them under the chin, which they enjoy. Oh—I forgot pigs. Definitely domesticable. They would make great house pets if they weren’t so destructive. I’ve also heard anecdotes about domesticated elephants developing deep attachments to their caretakers. I’m sure there are other examples, but these are the ones that immediately come to mind. My experience interacting with animals would indicate otherwise to me. For example: whenever I visit my bookkeeper, her three dogs all vie for my attention and affection and shower me with kisses. As far as they know, I do nothing for them but that. Humans have communication tools that animals do not, but there is no logical reason to believe that animals cannot experience a full range of emotions and can even figure out things that are not obvious. Complex mental tasks, no, but feeling and caring are obvious traits of animals. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343/45 "2008-10-17T22:52:14Z")
> [@Markxxx](#): > > I would disagree as I said, the lady I know with the chickens, she just comes out and sits down and the chickens run up to her and try to sit in her lap. They like to be petted. Granted she had pick them up and put them in her lap originally but now they seek her out. > > She’ll pet one and the other hens wait by her legs and when she puts it back down another one’ll hop up. I’ll bet she trained them to do this by feeding them. And if so, they are simply trained, and not genuinely affectionate. I had a big rooster who used to come up and peck me on the leg to get my attention. He would _allow_ me to pat him on the back, but he was really just looking for corn, and if all I did was pat him, he would get impatient and go back to pecking me. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343/46 "2008-10-17T23:00:12Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > I suppose to make the analogy fit better we’d have to presume a situation where the body was preserved; like being trapped in Arctic conditions. Or “Andic”. > **[Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uruguayan_Air_Force_Flight_571)** > > Uruguayan Air Force Flight 571 was the chartered flight of a Fairchild FH-227D from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile, that crashed in the Andes mountains in Argentina on 13 October 1972. The accident and subsequent survival became known as both the Andes flight disaster (Tragedia de los Andes, literally Tragedy of the Andes) and the Miracle of the Andes (Milagro de los Andes). > The inexperienced co-pilot, Lieutenant-Colonel Dante Héctor Lagurara, was piloting the aircraft at the time of ... ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343/47 "2008-10-17T23:09:41Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > Cows and chickens will seek out humans, but just for food handouts I think. Neither species seems much smarter than the average carrot, and I don’t think either experiences or displays “love.” > (snip) > I never saw those sorts of behaviors from cows or chickens, though I had “pets” of those species, too. A friend of mine works in a milking shed and says out of the three hundred cows, there are three or four that ‘love’ her. They seek her out and seem to enjoy her petting. They will hold off crapping if she walks behind them (tail already raised). Conversely there are about the same number that ‘hate’ her. They will shove her out of their way, attempt to stand on her feet and will projectile crap on her from metres away. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343/48 "2008-10-17T23:14:40Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > I had a big rooster who used to come up and peck me on the leg to get my attention. He would _allow_ me to pat him on the back, but he was really just looking for corn, and if all I did was pat him, he would get impatient and go back to pecking me. I love my pecker very much, but I know that it’s just a creature of instinct. ---
**Author:** ![Nikki\_Tikki\_Tavi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3da27b/32.png) [@Nikki\_Tikki\_Tavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nikki_Tikki_Tavi)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343/49 "2008-10-17T23:49:50Z")
> [@spoke-](#): > > I’ll bet she trained them to do this by feeding them. And if so, they are simply trained, and not genuinely affectionate. I had a big rooster who used to come up and peck me on the leg to get my attention. He would _allow_ me to pat him on the back, but he was really just looking for corn, and if all I did was pat him, he would get impatient and go back to pecking me. There’s a turkey at the sanctuary that will eagerly climb into your lap for petting whether you have treats or not. She’ll sit there until you get up, letting you stroke her feathers. We had a parrot when I was younger that adored my mom. Could have been because she was the one that fed him and cleaned his cage, but he was mean as shit to everyone else in the house regardless of how many treats we plied him with. My parents had to rehome the bird with another family member, and more than a year after he went to his new home my mom was there for a family function. He remembered her and called her name. Maybe love? Maybe just a good memory? ---
**Author:** ![Washoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ecae2f/32.png) [@Washoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Washoe)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343/50 "2008-10-18T00:13:06Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > I love my pecker very much, but I know that it’s just a creature of instinct. Perfect example. It clearly responds when you stroke or pet it, but that doesn’t indicate sentience. ---
**Author:** ![truthbot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e9bcb4/32.png) [@truthbot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/truthbot)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343/51 "2008-10-18T00:44:53Z")
mr. bot has a Border Collie that worships the ground he walks on. The two of them are inseperable. The BC pouts and goes into a grand funk if mr. bot dares leave the house without her. Her reaction to his return can only be described as “joy.” She will literally run over me to get to him. She loffs him. As for me, I have a Morgan gelding that is attached to my hip. He follows me everywhere, unhaltered and unbidden. He will come up behind me and look over my shoulder to see what I’m doing. When I groom him he will rest his head on my shoulder and nearly doze off. When he sees me coming, he nickers loudly and starts trotting and throwing his head with “joy.” Yes, he loffs me. To everyone else, he’s very pushy. We also have two large Ragdoll cats. One of them is a typical kittie, he acts as though he despises us and is rather stand-offish. His brother is just the opposite. He will climb into our laps and groom us. If I’m stretched out on the couch, he loves to plop down on top of me and purr like a jet engine. He loffs us. ---
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343/52 "2008-10-18T01:00:10Z")
> [@Nikki\_Tikki\_Tavi](#): > > We had a parrot when I was younger that adored my mom. I have no trouble believing that of a parrot. They are very smart birds. I understand crows (also very smart) can be quite affectionate, too, when tamed. I’ve never met a chicken with any wits at all. ---
**Author:** ![katie1341](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/91b2a8/32.png) [@katie1341](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/katie1341)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343/53 "2008-10-18T01:32:45Z")
How do we know what “love” is to an animal? If you ask 1,000 people what “love” is, you’ll get 1,000 answers. When I could barely walk before my back surgery a few years ago, my dog Auggie wouldn’t leave my side. When I went to let him out, he went out, pottied, and came back in. No running around, no trying to get me to play. Why is that not love, to a dog? I had a bad, painful case of pleuresy in Jan- Feb of this year. Auggie, who never slept in our room, suddenly was sleeping there all the time. Love? Why not? My 2 cats want to be wherever I am. They are sisters, they have each other. But if they are snuggled up and happy, and I go into another room, they follow me and snuggle up with me. How do I know that’s not love to a cat? I think that they love us in the best way that they can. Which, in my opinion, is perfect. ---
**Author:** ![gonzomax](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e8c25b/32.png) [@gonzomax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gonzomax)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343/54 "2008-10-18T01:39:19Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > Haven’t male dolphins been observed attempting to initiate sexual intercourse with human females? I’m sure I’ve heard that somewhere. Your confusing love and sex. It is a common human failing. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343/55 "2008-10-18T02:45:37Z")
I don’t know about love (who does?), but animals are smart enough to seek comfort and pleasure. My neighbor’s cat runs up a flight of stairs to greet me when she sees me walk out the door. I’ve never fed her, but I always stop and least scratch her behind the ears. I can’t see any other reason for that behavior than as a desire to interact with me in a way that the cat finds worthwhile. ---
**Author:** ![Risha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/5fc32e/32.png) [@Risha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Risha)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343/56 "2008-10-18T03:35:56Z")
> [@Washoe](#): > > Perfect example. It clearly responds when you stroke or pet it, but that doesn’t indicate sentience. Who said anything about sentience? Since when are sentience and emotion correlated at all? No one’s offered any scientific cites at all in this thread (on either side), so all I have to go on personal experience. Which says that I’ve seen animals of all descriptions past a certain level of sophistication exhibit emotions in general, and love in particular. ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343/57 "2008-10-18T03:47:14Z")
> [@CutterJohn](#): > > Personally, I think you’re anthropomorphizing humans. The fact that we romanticize this relationship among ourselves as this mystical word ‘love’ doesnt mean it is any different than what animals feel for each other or for humans they have bonded with, though there is certainly a difference in degree to this emotion across the range of animals. > > I’ve seen my dogs express fear, excitement, happiness, boredom, guilt, and anger. I have also seen them express love thats no less real than what humans feel. Agree with every word plus pack wolves make a point of showing a great deal of affection to each other individually before going on a hunt. (Cite The World of Mammals BBC documentary narrated by D.Attenborough. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2008, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343/58 "2008-10-18T06:44:17Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > Dogs can be loyal to their pack and have an attachment to their pack, but to call it “love” is nonsense. Why ? Love is an emotion of attachment. No, we can’t **know** that what they are feeling is, specifically, love; but there’s no good reason to call speculations that it is “nonsense”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/which-animals-show-humans-love/468343.md?page=2)