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Asked by William on 25 Jun 2024.
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Martin McCoustra answered on 25 Jun 2024:
That’s an interesting philosophical question and not one that is easy to answer. I’m my view, it rests on whether or not animals understand the situation they are in and can change it (i.e., are self-aware and intelligent) or are simply programmed by their biology to live and then die.
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Pete Webb answered on 25 Jun 2024:
It’s very unlikely that animals other than humans know they are going to die. Most animals probably do not spend their entire lives consciously trying to live, that spend their entire lives responding to 2 fundamental drivers (urges): eat, procreate.
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Sam Rogerson answered on 15 Jul 2024:
A good thought-provoking question, which I have some thoughts on!
It’s fascinating to think that as humans, we are fundamentally animals. In many ways, we share the same basic instincts-the pursuit of survival, longevity, and reproduction. These are traits that are not unique to us, but are shared by a wide range of species in the animal kingdom.
Let’s take insects, for example. Across the board, insects are not a group of animals we think of as “intelligent” (though some, like bumblebees, can be quite smart and can learn from each other, that’s beside the point). As far as we know, insects do not have an idea of “self”; they do not know they exist as individuals, that they have a purpose, and that they have a greater role to play and fulfil. An insect just is, and it just does. But their genes, their chromosomes, the same stuff that is inside every living thing, are selfish. Genes want to multiply, to be passed on to the next generation, and the next generation, and the next. And so an insect, like a beetle, driven by its selfish genes, will eat, try and avoid predators, and reproduce, to pass on its genes to the next generation. Again, I don’t think a beetle or a bee actively thinks, “I have to pass my genes on to the next generation!” it is just driven instinctively and habitually to do so. A newborn lamb “knows” exactly where to get milk from its mother. At birth, a freshly hatched turtle “knows” to head towards the ocean. A wood beetle larva “knows” to make a tunnel at the perfect angle to avoid eating the same wood as its siblings. Genes are incredible and push a living thing to do things for reasons it might not even fully understand.
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