Brandon Keim interviews Jonathan Balcombe, author of The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure on why their feelings matter:
One [study], of starlings, concluded that these birds become optimistic or pessimistic based on living conditions. Another showed bereavement in baboons. Pessimism and optimism and bereavement are not fleeting feelings. Studies like these show that animals' emotional states are not just a series of snapshots. They are beings who have long-term emotional states.
(Photo: A hoary marmot wandered through a park sniffing each flower. Balcombe cautions: "We should be guarded before we assume that we're the only gourmands in the world.")
The Dish 