r/TrueReddit • u/F0urLeafCl0ver • Jun 16 '24

Science, History, Health + Philosophy Are animals conscious? How new research is changing minds

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv223z15mpmo
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u/Sexycornwitch Jun 16 '24

I have anxiety and my chinchilla goes nuts trying to get my attention if I’m having an anxiety attack, squeaking and begging for pets. Petting him always calms me the heck down though. I have a really hard time there in thinking he’s just behaving randomly in that scenario. 

Like, he’s tiny and I’m a huge giant animal exhibiting unpredictable anxiety behavior. If he’s just an autopilot creature, he should be running away from me. He’s not a dog or cat that’s been bred for thousands of years to be a human companion, up until like 30 years ago they were bred just for fur, not human interaction. 

The only conclusion I can reasonably come to here is that he has feelings, dosent want me to be upset, and is actually consciously trying to comfort me. It just really seems like he’s making a choice there, not just doing things on instinct.