I caught the last half of The Nature of Things the other night. It was about the brain activity of animals. One doctor guy was trying to prove that animals have some kind of moral code. Which, to anyone who believes that we are light-years beyond monkeys, or anyone who eats animals and doesn't think they mind, or anyone who thinks God only cares about homo sapiens, is offensive. Disruptive.

It was amazing. Some animals actually show self-awareness. They put a mirror in an aquarium to see how dolphins would respond. Other animals (like dogs, and baby humans) do not ever grasp the fact that it is themselves they are seeing. These dolphins, once they figured out that it was their own self they were seeing (they figured this out because since dolphins are such social creatures, they would be making noise if they thought it was someone else -- and they do this, initially, to the mirror) they would open their mouth and look inside. They would swim as close as they could to get a good look at their eye. They would twist around staring at themselves.

They went to monkeys to talk about the whole morality thing. They figured that monkeys at very least have a sense of fairness. Two monkeys in cages beside one another were given a nut, and had to pass it back to the person, and were then given a treat. But when the human started giving one monkey a better treat, the other monkey would not accept the less-adequate treat, and would throw it to the ground and start slamming against its cage. They also observed different species of monkeys in nature. One breed (I forget the name. They were both the closest relatives to humans) showed empathy when watching videos of its "friends" yawning, by yawning in return (like we do). Interestingly enough, it would not yawn when it was shown a "stranger" it didn't know. The expert concluded that humans have evolved to feel empathy for those we don't know, as well as those we do, which is why we yawn regardless, and is also why we can live in such proximity to one another (in cities). The other species of monkey is much more accepting to those they do not know. When given the chance, even with a monkey it did not know, it would always share whatever food was provided. There was no hesitation. As soon as the food was provided, the monkey opened the latch to let the other in to share. In fact, they found that monkeys would not eat something if a fellow comrade could not partake with them.

Further reiteration that we can learn from our furry friends. They won't eat unless others in their clan can share. Amazing.