Una de las conclusiones alcanzadas en el artículo Empathy in children era: “Una buena forma de que los alumnos entiendan qué es la empatía, que actúen de forma ética y que extiendan la empatía hacia todo aquel que puede sentir es hablando de la empatía de los animales, contando anécdotas de animales que tratan de ayudar a otros, o mostrando vídeos de Interment donde se ven animales rescatando a otros.”
We can tell, for example, a story that took place on the Florida coast in 1954. To capture a group of dolphins, a stick of dynamite was thrown at them. When one victim surfaced wounded, two others came to its aid. (1)
Frans de Waal cuenta además la siguiente anécdota:
“(…) Los arrendajos machos cortejan a sus parejas ofreciéndoles deliciosos bocados.
Presuponiendo que a todo macho le gusta impresionar, los experimentadores les ofrecieron dos bocados a escoger: orugas de polilla de la cera y gusanos de la harina. Pero antes de dejar que el macho alimentara a su pareja, ellos la alimentaban primero con uno de esos dos bocados. Al ver esto, el macho cambiaba de su elección. Si su pareja acababa de comerse un puñado de orugas de polilla, él elegía gusanos de la harina para ella y viceversa. (…) Así pues, los arrendajos también parecen ser capaces de atribuir preferencias a otros, adoptando el punto de vista ajeno.”
These examples are not intended to suggest that other animals have the same empathic capacities as humans. Each of us is different, and there are variations across ages, genders, and species. For example, people with Asperger's syndrome have empathic difficulties, and therefore—just as in childhood—we cannot demand the same level of responsibility from them as we would from an adult who possesses this developed capacity.
Among other animals, there are also significant differences in empathy. A study with capuchin monkeys found that two monkeys facing each other had no problem performing a given task if both received the same reward. However, if one received a more desirable reward, the other showed clear signs of anger, demonstrating a certain degree of understanding of justice. This study was taken further with chimpanzees, and it was observed that some of them protested even when the injustice benefited them, demonstrating not only that they know what is right, but also that they can be compassionate.
1.- De Waal, F. 2016. Are we intelligent enough to understand animal intelligence?. Tusquets. Barcelona.