It always kind of annoys me when someone claims that animals like dogs and cats aren't capable of love. Bill Maher, whom I normally like, said something of the sort on his show at one point. I guess my question is, if dogs and cats only hang around with people to get food, why are their favorites often NOT the ones who feed them the most often? And why do dogs have the desire to protect people? Now, I don't know all the biological aspects of the minds of animals, but I do think that if you reduce their affection and emotions to mere desires for food and warmth, you could probably do the same with humans. Maybe caring for each other became an evolutionarily advantageous trait for purely cold and rational reasons, but I also think it's developed beyond that, both for humans and some other sorts of animals. The idea that humans are animals is so offensive to some people that they had to come up with Intelligent Design to contradict it, but it's definitely the way the evidence points.
I do have to wonder about animal creativity. I know some people say that only humans (and possibly some other sorts of primates) are capable of imagination, and it's probably true that a dog isn't going to come up with an idea for the great American novel. But I have to suspect that dogs and cats might be capable of PRETENDING, as can be seen from the fact that they treat obviously un-alive and not-too-tasty toys in the same way they do prey. So where do we draw the line? I don't know.
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