Animal emotions and sensitivity - Jonathan Balcombe interview
I talked to an ethologist and a writer, Jonathan Balcombe about existence, behaviors or, for example, diet. He is not only an empathetic person, but also an expert on animal behavior, as he was formerly Director of Animal Sentience with The Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy, and Department Chair for Animal Studies with the Humane Society University in Washington, D.C.
Photo by Meredith Lee
Lili Lajtár (LL): What motivated you to be an ethologist? Why did you decide to choose this path in life?
Jonathan Balcombe (JB): From my earliest memories, I have always been fascinated with animals. I have also had a deep and burning sensitivity towards them. Anyone who stomped on an ant was more alien to me than the tiny creature being crushed under their foot.
LL: Sensitivity towards animals is the basis of a common connection with them, and I am like that too. However, many people are not aware of their own, this type of values and, unfortunately, there are plenty of people, who do not have an iota of empathy. However, when young adults reach a fork in the road in their life, how would you convince them, the students, why they should study as an ethologist?
JB: If you are keenly interested in animals and their experiences of their own lives, then ethology is a good field for you, especially in the current era when science is open to exploring animals’ minds and feelings. Furthermore, animals need our help. They need people who support them. Humans have been overrunning the planet and there’s less and less space available for wild creatures. This is a tragedy that must be addressed.
LL: What parallels do you think you can discover between the behavior of animals and humans? How different can we be from animals?
JB: As we learn more about other animals’ lives, we discover that their experiences align with our own. And it’s time to be more humble and less human-centred in our thinking. There is no rational case for believing that our emotions and our sensitivities are experienced to any greater degree by us than by other animals. Look at the fear in the face of a trapped fox. Observe the joy of young monkeys engaged in rough and tumble play. Also, consider, that many animals have stronger senses, and can smell, hear, see and experience some things that we cannot.
LL: I believe that it would be cosmic arrogance to think ourselves, humans as the most perfect species in the Universe. Until we perceive the absolute reality, we are not even able to place ourselves among the species of our planet, but in the end, this limitation of ours makes us planet killers in the long run. What does the living world outside of humans tell us as an indicator? What conclusions can be drawn from the behavior of animals about the state of their environment?
JB: The animals are losing ground. Wild land-dwelling vertebrates today total only about 4% of the total biomass of land-dwelling vertebrates; the remainder is 36% humans and 60% livestock! (There’s a powerful lesson in there about food choices.) Some animals are more adaptable than others; they are learning to live alongside us and some even thrive in our urban spaces. But the great majority of wild animals cannot do this. They require special habitats: wetlands, forests, grasslands, deserts, etc. The planet cannot afford more humans, more meat, more biodiversity loss.
LL: Which living beings did you mainly study and why did you choose them?
JB: As an undergraduate student I studied freshwater turtles. As a graduate student, I focused my studies on communication by bats. This included “eavesdropping”, whereby foraging bats tune in to the echolocation calls of other bats to find good patches of flying insect food. For my PhD, I studied the ability of Mexican Free-tailed bat mothers to recognize the calls of their pups. This is a very useful skill for an animal who must find and nurse her baby among several million inside a single cave.
LL: If you had the chance, which living beings would you like to study?
JB: I’m already studying them. Living in Canada, I have good access to many wilderness areas. My partner and I go hiking often, and these outings afford us the chance to watch nature. Of all the animals and plants we encounter, the most exciting for me are snakes. They are so physically beautiful and so misunderstood.
LL: I also love and respect snakes. By the way, giving respect always helps animals open up to me, maybe it would not hurt to bring this attitude back to our human relationships as well. Now let us talk a little about behaviors. Can you tell us about some interesting animal behaviors you have observed?
JB: I especially enjoy watching animals engaged in positive, rewarding behaviors. I remember warming my hands in the thick wool on the back of a sheep at a Sanctuary for rescued farm animals where I used to volunteer. When I stopped moving my fingers about, the sheep scraped my boot with her front hoof. It was her way of asking me to continue with the massage I was giving! I have often seen crows, gulls, rooks, and other flying birds expressing the joy of being airborne. I discuss these and other forms of animal pleasure in my books Pleasurable Kingdom, and The Exultant Ark.
LL: It is known that you have changed your lifestyle in terms of your diet. What changes did you experience when you switched to a vegan lifestyle? Did you face any difficulties, and if so, what were they?
JB: I became vegetarian in 1984 when I was 25 years old. I remember wondering why it took me—someone who loves animals so long—to make that decision! I went vegan five years later, when I realized that the treatment of animals for dairy and egg production was just as bad as for those raised and slaughtered for meat, and that those animals also end their lives in slaughterhouses. Even that long ago, living vegan was not difficult. I joined the local vegetarian society, purchased some cookbooks, and replaced cow milk with delicious and healthier plant-based milks. Today, there are far more vegan food options than in those days, but it is never difficult when you focus your diet on fruits, vegetables, legumes, grains, nuts. More eco-friendly, healthier, and so much friendlier to animals!
LL: Why did you think it was important to study the Mexican free-tailed bat? What important information did you gain during this process?
JB: All bats are interesting to study because their lives are relatively secretive and we have known so little about them. The Mexican Free-tailed bat is notable for the huge maternity colonies where mothers raise their single pups. It was exciting to show, using playbacks of pre-recorded vocalizations, that these bats know one another by voice recognition. Also, by the time the pups are grown and ready to start flying for themselves, they have learned to recognize their moms, who continue to play a vital role in their survival during the transition from childhood to independent adults.
LL: How do you see, what the biggest challenges are in creating a book?
JB: For me, finding a timely topic for which there is a decent amount of scientific study is a big step. Another challenge, but an enjoyable one, is deciding what I learn during my research for a book actually belongs. Inevitably, once the manuscript is finished, there is a large pile of discarded material that didn’t make the cut.
LL: Well, yes, when we start to deal with something more deeply, we learn a lot through the topic and we probably also realize that the given thing and its effects reach around the planet, so we can easily see that everything is connected to everything. Books. Could you briefly introduce the books you have created? What goals do you want to achieve with them?
JB: The Use of Animals in Higher Education: Problems, Alternatives, and Recommendations (Humane Society Press, 2000) lays out the arguments and supporting evidence that we should not harm or exploit animals to teach biology or any other topic.
Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good (Macmillan, 2006) explores and draws attention to animals’ rich capacity for pleasure.
Second Nature: The Inner Lives of Animals (Palgrave, 2010) presents animals as individual beings with rich mental and emotional experiences.
The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure (University of California Press, 2011) uses mainly photographs to make the case that Pleasurable Kingdom makes.
What a Fish Knows: The Inner Lives of our Underwater Cousins (Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 2016) shows that we have vastly underestimated the intelligence, sociality, and emotionality of fishes.
Super Fly: The Unexpected Lives of the World’s Most Successful Insects (Penguin Books, 2021) combines science with stories to teach readers about one of the world’s most disliked groups of animals.
Jake and Ava: A Boy and a Fish (Gryphon Press, 2021) is an illustrated children’s book, a story of empathy that tells the parallel stories of a boy on his first fishing trip, and of the fish he catches.
LL: What challenges did you face as an ethologist?
JB: As an ethologist, none. As a vegan ethologist, not much, although occasionally I have met someone who needs to defend their indefensible eating choices.
LL: What do you think makes a good ethologist?
JB: Being able to stay still, to watch with an open mind, and a willingness to try to put oneself in the position of the animal one is studying.
LL: As an ethologist, what questions concern you the most?
JB: What does it feel like to them? How might they be experiencing it? How does my presence influence the behavior I’m witnessing? How can I minimize these so-called “observer effects”?
LL: How do you see... Is something missing from your life?
JB: I’ve had the good fortune to be raised in a stable family and to have lived in politically stable countries without food insecurity or economic struggles. I’ve also had the privilege to seek and benefit from a rich education. The only thing missing is impossible to obtain: enough time to pursue all the interests I have. But one mustn’t complain about that. Key for me is to make the most of every day, and to live it as if it’s my last.
LL: What is your message to young people?
JB: Life is a huge opportunity. As far as we know, we only get one tour. Make the most of it. Pursue your passions. Work to make the world better. Have projects. They make life meaningful and rewarding.
LL: Do you like giving interviews?
JB: Yes, especially when they contain probing questions, like this one does.
LL: Is there anything that you would consider important to highlight in addition to the above?
JB: Find ways to laugh. Although I don’t smoke, here’s a witty remark from Mark Twain (a vocal opponent of vivisection): “Quitting smoking is easy. I’ve done it dozens of times.”
Thank you for your time, your life, for answering my questions! More wonderful moments when connecting with animals. And for my readers, I hope I have again gained some food for thought.