Morality in animals?

Question

*Besides humans.

Can you give examples of animals with a certain extent of morality and in what way? And can you cite please?

Answer 1

I remember reading in a national geographic magazine that elephants showed the most knowledge of their own mortality when they would carefully examine the remains of deceased elephants by rubbing their trunks along their bodies.

Answer 2

Moral principals may be viewed either as the standard of conduct that individuals have constructed for themselves or as the body of obligations and duties that a particular society requires of it's members.

Lions, gorillas, hyenas.  Most animal groups have hierarchy and obligations/duties that are required of it's members.

Answer 3

Vultures wait until a creature is dead before they prey on it.  That's morality, if I've ever seen it.

Answer 4

Elephants protect their young (as many animals do) and mourn their dead.  Not sure that qualifies as "morality", but it is at least empathy.

Answer 5

http://www.veterinarian.com

Answer 6

Take a look at this picture:

http://www.naturescornermagazine.com/Nat...

Answer 7

Being able to distinguish between right and wrong should not be confused with being able to choose between correct and incorrect. Acting accordingly with what is expected by other members of the pack is not a moral action in as much as there are no values involved but needs, namely the safety of the pack. So keeping the rules is not a moral act even in humans since, as Kant has argued, if someone decides not to kill another person because he could be caught and put in jail, he is not acting morally, he is being practical or even wise, but not moral. He is being moral only if he considers the act as wrong in the sense of being bad not in the sense of being incorrect.

Showing feelings isn't a moral act either because there is no decision making in feeling. Most mammals display feelings, particularly to their offspring. So fending off predators or loosing a cub to one might involve feelings, but there will be no "Sophie's Choice" to take when confronted with one.

So no, none of the examples given are valid. If there are any you must find them in primates.

Answer 8

Two lions in africa killed over 2500 people and stashed their bodies in a cave, because they enjoyed killing. They only killed humans too.

Is that immoral? I think so... lions are not good people.

Answer 9

Morals, I'm not too sure about.  Conscience, maybe.

On National Geographic channel there was a story about a lioness that didn't belong to a pride.  She chased after a heard of oryx and caught a baby oryx.  She didn't kill it, she laid with it, took care of it and cuddled with it at night to keep it warm.  She stayed with it for 2 weeks until it was killed by a pride of lions.  It said at the end of the show that she had done this 5 more times.

Also on NG, the leopard that killed a baboon.  The baboon had a baby hanging on to her.  When the leopard noticed the baby, she took it into the tree with her and took care of it, being very gentle as not to hurt it.  She tried to keep it warm at night but, unfortunately, it could not survive without it's mother.

So, is this morals?  I don't know.  They didn't want to kill the baby when they could have had an easy meal.  Was it because it was a baby?  Could be.

J

Answer 10

I dont think animals have morals. They act on instinct and what they have to do to survive. A cheetah doesn't break down different gazelles and decide which one has been bad and deserves to get attacked and eaten.

Answer 11

I cant (or wont) give you sources, but dolphins have been observed to protect human swimmers. Also a dominant male baboon was observed to single handedly face down leopards to save an infant not related to him. The latter was actually in The Descent of Man by Darwin. I wouldnt exactly call this morality, since the idea morality is a human construct and a fictitious idea.

Answer 12

I think that humans are the only living creatures with a moral center.  Being higher evolved creatures (supposedly! LOL) we can reason, feel remorse, etc.

Answer 13

The first thing here is to determine what specifically is meant by morality.  The American Heritage Dictionary defines morality as "The quality of being in accord with standards of right or good conduct."  WordNet from Princeton sees it as "concern with the distinction between good and evil or right and wrong; right or good conduct."

So, if morality is the ability to recognize behavior as good and bad, all social animals seem to possess this ability. Furthermore, it seems like there is more agreement among members of other species about what constitutes good behavior than there is among human beings.  Any zebra can demonstrate the rules of the herd, any wolf knows how to be a good pack member, any duck understands the right way to fly in formation.

By this definition animals are typically more "moral" than humans - they seldom act outside of their "rules" and when they do, the other individuals respond quickly and negatively.  

Immorality (rule breaking) in animals can be cause by illness or parasites or by contact with humans.  For example, animals raised in captivity and later released into the wild are often killed by others of their species, neurotic dogs are frequently attacked by other dogs.

A different and even more interesting question might be to look at some specific traits that have a moral value to us and see if animals seem to able behave in this way.  Can animals be, for example; compassionate, or generous, or dishonest, or patient, or self-sacrificing, or brave?

Answer 14

You been watching to many Disney-cartoons-

Answer 15

There is no scientific evidence to demonstrate that animals contemplate their actions in terms of morality, or that they act moral. Most of their behavior is based upon what makes them the most successful species in their particular environmental niche.

Answer 16

This is anthropomorphizing at it's worst.  Animals have certain rules like humans do so that the pack gets along, but they have no real ability to "choose" their "morality".

Here are examples of what you are looking for (or what your teacher is looking for):

Adult male lion always feed 1st at a kill so that they are healthy and can protect the pack.

Adult male lions kill the young of other males when they take over another pack.  this is to ensure that their genes are passed down and not another male's.

yes these are morals. they are morals that you might find repugnant, but they are morals nonetheless.

Answer 17

p**p?