Sumatran Tiger Emotions

Sumatran tigers witnessing the abrupt departure of family members exhibit behaviors indicating suffering and negative emotions.

The question as to whether animals have emotions has been debated for many years. More than two centuries ago, the issue of whether or not animals could experience suffering (strong negative emotions) was raised by Bentham (1789). More recently, the significance of the existence of negative emotions associated with animals’ suffering has been considered in the light of legal and ethical implications.

While pet owners frequently anthropomorphize their pets, attributing human feelings and emotions to the animals, there is now an awareness that animals can indeed experience primary feelings of fear and anger, and also secondary emotions of love, jealousy and greed.

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Communication Between Tigers

Sumatran and other tigers communicate with each other by rubbing their faces together (indonesianfauna.com) and by various forms of vocalization including growls, roars and high-pitched squeals. They are known to express various feelings and emotions using their tails; an upright wagging tail signifies friendliness, but a tail that is lowered and twitches from side to side acts as a warning to others to keep their distance.

Displays of Positive Emotions by Family of Sumatran Tigers

The following account of the behavior of four Sumatran tigers (mother and three cubs) provides compelling evidence of the ability of these animals to experience intense emotions. The observations of the animals, confiscated in February by the Indonesian government from a private residence in Jakarta, were made in an animal rescue center where they had been placed while the government made plans for their future.

While at the animal rescue center, the four tigers behaved in a very relaxed manner, communicating with each other constantly by rubbing their faces together and licking each other. Alert and bright-eyed, the cubs (seven months old on their arrival at the rescue center) played together constantly, rolling on their backs like kittens, ambushing each other and their mother, chasing each other around their enclosure and in and out of their water tubs.

When not engaged as described above, the tigers would spring up onto their platforms or stand on their hind legs at the front of their enclosure, paying close attention to activities in their immediate environment, and exhibiting much excitement as feeding time approached. When resting, all four tigers would invariably stretch out together, leaning against each other and resting their heads on each others’ bodies.

The tigers’ activities were accompanied by much vocalization, mostly a mixture of squeals from the cubs and playful growls from their mother, together with snuffling and purring sounds. The entire picture was one of tigers experiencing and displaying very positive emotions.

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Tigers Exhibit Dramatic Change in Emotional Behavior

The situation described above ended abruptly with the sudden removal of the male cub and one female cub from the rescue center, taken by the Indonesian government for transfer to a small zoo in Kalimantan, Indonesia. The transfer of the two cubs into their transport cages, taking place in the middle of the night, was extremely stressful and traumatic, not only for these two animals but also for the mother and the remaining cub as they witnessed the procedure.

The behavior of the mother and one cub since the departure of the other two cubs has undergone a dramatic and distressing transformation. The animals are exhibiting symptoms of depression and emotional distress. They are no longer playing, suddenly becoming much more sedentary and sleeping more. They have not played in their water tubs since that night. Their eyes have lost their bright excited expressions, and they pay little attention to activities around their enclosure, rarely standing up on their hind legs to take a look around.

Their feeding patterns have changed, and they no longer show excitement at the prospect of eating, leaving their food untouched for hours instead of devouring it instantly. They prefer to eat close together now, rather than in separate parts of their enclosure as they did before; their separation into different parts of the enclosure now elicits much anxiety expressed by high-pitched cries from the cub and persistent roars from her mother.

The positive emotions formerly displayed by these tigers have now given way to negative emotions associated with suffering and trauma.

When Will the Positive Emotions Return?

At a certain point in the natural development of tigers, the young animals will leave their mother and seek out territories of their own. However, in the case described here, the separation of the two from their mother and sister took place extremely abruptly, creating a traumatic situation for all of the animals. Sumatran tigers are known to have strong memory powers and remain traumatized for a very long time after witnessing distressing events.

How much time will it take for these two beautiful tigers to recover their positive emotions?

Sources:

abcnews.go.com. "The Science of Animal Emotions."

Adiguna, J. "Tambling’s Sumatran Tiger." The Jakarta Post. thejakartapost.com.

Bentham, J. 1789. "Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation." Clarendon Press, Oxford.

Dawkins, M.S. "Animal Minds and Animal Emotions." Integrative and Comparative Biology. Volume 40, Issue 6, pp. 883-888. academic.oup.com/icb