EP09 | 動物也有感覺嗎？牠們的愛、恐懼與悲傷 | Do Animals Feel Love, Fear, and Grief?

你相信動物也會悲傷、害怕，甚至愛嗎？這集我們從「狗狗是真的愛我，還是想吃零食？」這個常見問題出發，延伸到更深的思考：動物到底在想什麼、感受什麼？從科學研究、動物行為到大象、虎鯨、海豚等故事，我們一起重新理解「情緒」與「意識」並不是人類獨有。身為動物愛好者，我也在準備這集時對人類之於地球產生更謙卑的想法。Do animals have real feelings—like love, fear, and grief? In this episode, we explore animal emotions through science, behavior, and powerful stories about elephants, dolphins, and killer whales. As an animal lover, I also reflect on how humans are not “above” other species—just one life among many.Transcript:Hey guys, I’m your English teacher, Miss Y! Welcome to the podcast made for intermediate English learners who want to listen to English and learn about different topics in a fun and easy way. So this week, I spent some time looking up different materials for our episodes, and… honestly, some topics just hit harder than others. And this one? It really stayed in my mind. Because I’m a big animal lover. Like… I’ve always felt really peaceful around animals. And after reading and watching more about today’s topic, I started to feel something else too: this… more humble feeling. Like, maybe humans aren’t the “main character” of Earth. Main character 就是主角. And yeah—maybe we’re not the main character of Earth. So today we’re talking about something that sounds simple… but is actually pretty deep: Do animals have feelings? I mean feelings like love, fear or feeling scared, sadness or grief 悲傷, joy or happiness, anxiety or feeling nervous, and even empathy 同情. And I know—some people might think this question is kind of silly. Because if you’ve ever lived with a dog, you probably feel like the answer is… obviously yes. Your dog sees you come home, and suddenly it’s like… “Oh my god, you came back from the dead!!! I missed you!!!” And your dog is jumping, spinning, tail wagging so hard it looks like it might fly away. So of course it’s natural to ask: “Does my dog love me?” Or… “Is my dog just excited because I might give it food?” But today, I want to change the question a little bit. Because maybe the problem is… we always make it about “us,” right? Like humans always want to know: “Do they love me?” “Do they understand me?” “Are they like us?” It’s kind of… narcissistic. Narcissistic 就是很自戀 很自我中心的意思. Like we’re the center of the universe. So instead of asking, “Do animals love us?” Let’s ask something more respectful. How do I understand them? Who are animals? What is happening inside their minds? What is happening inside their hearts? Okay, let me share a story that honestly surprised me. Scientists did an experiment 實驗, with crayfish. Crayfish 就是那種小龍蝦, 好像有些地方也叫螯蝦. So basically, the scientists gave crayfish small electric shocks—電擊. Every time the crayfish tried to leave its burrow, like its home, they gave it electric shocks. And after a while, the crayfish changed. It became cautious and nervous. It stopped exploring. Basically… it developed something like anxiety. 焦慮這種感覺. And here’s the crazy part: scientists gave that crayfish the same kind of medicine humans take for anxiety. And the crayfish calmed down. It became curious again. It went out from its home and explored again. So the crayfish wasn’t just reacting like a robot. Something deeper was going on. And honestly… this part feels so human. Because we humans can develop anxiety in the same way too—just like the crayfish—because of our past experiences. But here’s where it gets dark… and kind of ironic. Because humans see this and think: “Wow, crayfish can feel anxiety.” And then… we still boil them alive. So maybe the question isn’t only: “Do animals have feelings?” The real question is: If they have feelings… why don’t we take that a bit more seriously? Okay, now this next story is honestly amazing. In South Africa, there was a baby dolphin—dolphin 就是海豚. And this baby dolphin lived in an aquarium, 水族館. Her name was Dolly. One day a keeper—就是動物管理員—took a cigarette break near the window. He was smoking. And Dolly swam up, looked at him, and watched. Then she went back to her mother, nursed—drinking milk from her mother—for a minute. Then she came back to the window… and released a cloud of milk into the water around her head. It looked like smoke. Like… it REALLY looked like smoke. And at first it seems like she was just copying him. But here’s the thing… She wasn’t copying in a simple way. She was using milk as a symbol for smoke. She made a creative connection. And when humans use one thing to represent another… we call it art. So maybe art is not only human. Maybe creativity is not only human. Now let’s go bigger. There are some animals that are obviously smart. Like apes. We know chimpanzees and gorillas have intelligence. Ape 就是人猿, chimpanzee 是黑猩猩, gorilla 是大猩猩. They’re not exactly “monkeys”—they’re apes. But there are also animals that surprise us. For example… octopuses. Octopus 章魚. And seriously, do you guys know that octopuses are actually super smart? Octopuses can solve puzzles. They can use tools. They recognize human faces. They even seem to have personalities. 他們是有個性的. Some are curious. Some are shy. Some are aggressive. That’s not a simple creature. That’s a complex mind. Another example is sea otters. 海獺. Sea otters use rocks like tools to open shells. And they don’t just use tools. They teach their babies how to use them. And that’s important, because teaching isn’t common in animals. But killer whales do. Killer whales 就是殺人鯨, 另外一個名字是 orca. Orcas teach. They teach their babies how to survive. They also share food. So now we have animals with intelligence, culture, teaching, social rules, and family bonds. Animals may not be as smart as humans… but they are definitely not stupid. Okay, now let’s talk about elephants. Elephants are famous for being intelligent and emotional. And some researchers did this experiment: They recorded human voices. They played different recordings from hidden speakers. And when they played tourists’ voices? Elephants didn’t care. Because tourists are annoying, yes… but they don’t hurt elephants. But recordings of herders? Herder 就是管理動物的人. Herders sometimes carry spears. Sometimes they attack elephants. And when elephants heard those voices? They got nervous. They grouped together. They ran away. So elephants don’t just understand: “Human or not human.” They understand: “Different kinds of humans.” Safe humans. Dangerous humans. And that’s honestly a powerful reminder: Animals are watching us. They’ve been watching us for much longer than we’ve been watching them. They may even know us better than we know them. Another thing humans are proud of is empathy. Empathy is being able to understand and share other people’s feelings. Empathy 就是同理心. We like to think empathy makes us special. But actually… empathy is ancient. 是很古老的. It started as something very simple. The oldest form of empathy is probably contagious fear. Fear is the feeling of being scared. Contagious means it can be passed from one to another—it can influence others. 就是會感染的, 會傳遞的. Contagious fear 就是恐懼是會散播的. Imagine you’re in a group of birds. Suddenly all the birds fly away. If you stop and say: “Hmm, interesting. Why are they leaving?” You might become lunch. So instead, you feel fear too. You run too. That shared emotion is a kind of empathy. Then empathy becomes more complex. Like when you feel sad because someone else is sad. So animals are capable of sensing others’ emotions… because it’s a way to stay alive. Empathy isn’t human-only. Humans are not that special, and animals are not always heartless. Heartless 就是冷血、沒感情的意思. Now we need to talk about one feeling that many people think only humans have: Grief. Grief is a deep sadness—especially when someone you love dies. Grief 就是非常悲痛非常悲傷的感覺. Grief is love that has nowhere to go. When a person you love disappears… you still love them. But you can’t give that love to them anymore. And humans aren’t the only ones who experience that. There’s a story from a farm sanctuary in New York. It’s about two ducks—duck 鴨子—named Harper and Kohl. Harper and Kohl were rescued from a foie gras factory. Foie gras 是法文, 就是一種食物, 鵝肝或鴨肝, 法國人喜歡吃的貴貴的那種. These two ducks were raised in a foie gras factory. And luckily, they were saved, rescued, and brought to a sanctuary. Sanctuary 就是庇護所或避難所. For the next four years, the ducks Harper and Kohl slowly became healthy again. And during those four years, they became best friends. They always stayed close. They ate together. They walked around together. And they often went to the same little pond, just the two of them—like it was their favorite place. But one day, Kohl started to feel serious pain in his legs, and the pain could not be healed. So the sanctuary workers made the heartbreaking decision to euthanize him, to stop the suffering. To euthanize is to kill an animal in a humane way, trying to reduce its pain, and finally stopping its pain. And then… the workers did something truly kind. They brought Harper to Kohl’s body. At first, Harper walked up and gently pushed the body, like he was trying to wake his friend up. And then Harper did something that still breaks my heart. He laid his whole body on top of Kohl, and stayed there… for more than an hour. Just quietly lying there. Like he didn’t want to leave. And after that, Harper changed. In the weeks that followed, he had a hard time. He kept going back to that same pond where they used to go together. He didn’t want to be with other ducks. He didn’t want new friends. And within two months… Harper died too. And when I hear this story, I can’t see it as “just instinct.” Instinct 就是動物的本能或天性. This is not just instinct. To me, it sounds like grief. Real sorrow. Sorrow 跟 grief 很像, 都是很深的悲傷. The pain of losing someone you love. So here’s the idea. A lot of people think humans are special because of our brains. We’re proud of our brains. We even call ourselves Homo sapiens — it comes from Latin, meaning “wise humans.” But here’s the funny thing: Our brain didn’t just magically appear. It’s inherited. 它是被傳承下來的. It is inherited. Our nervous system has a long history. A very long history. The first neurons — the first nerve cells — appeared in very simple creatures. And across evolution, those early systems slowly became more and more complex. So even today, a neuron… A neuron looks basically like a neuron. In a bird. In a human. Even in a crayfish. And that’s crazy, right? Because when you look at a crayfish, you don’t think: “Wow. That creature might have emotions.” You think: “That creature looks like food.” But if the nervous system is connected across evolution… Then maybe feelings are not human-only. Maybe feelings are just… life. Now, some people will say: “Okay sure, animals have instincts.” “But do they have consciousness?” And that’s a big word. Consciousness is being aware of your surroundings, being aware of who you are, and what you are doing. Consciousness 就是意識. It’s a noun. You have consciousness. Conscious 是它的形容詞. You can say, “He is conscious.” So let’s make it simpler. When you go into surgery, doctors can make you unconscious. Unconscious 就是無意識的. Because you need anesthesia. What does that mean? It means you don’t feel anything. No pain. No sound. No awareness. So consciousness is the opposite of that. Consciousness is: When something feels like something. If you can feel fear, comfort, curiosity, pain, and pleasure, then you have consciousness. So if animals can feel… they are conscious. Not necessarily like humans. But they are not empty robots. After all this, we return to love. Humans often want to own love. We want love to be our special thing. But love is not special to humans. Love is part of life. Many animals care about their mates, children, family, and group members. Some birds fly thousands of miles to bring food to their baby chicks. They spend weeks traveling… just for one meal. So… Do animals have feelings? After everything we’ve talked about today… I think the answer is yes. Not exactly like humans. But real feelings. Real minds. Real relationships. Real grief. Real joy. After looking at all the research on animals, the real question is: Are we big enough to let them be who they are? And honestly… the more I think about it, the more I feel like this topic isn’t only about animals. It’s also about us. Because humans and animals aren’t that different. We all feel fear, comfort, attachment, and loss. And I don’t think humans are automatically more “noble” or “superior.” Noble 很高尚, superior 很高等. Humans are not more noble or superior. We like to say we are the smartest species — but we’re also emotional, irrational, and sometimes even destructive. Emotional 有情緒的, irrational 不理性的, destructive 有破壞力的. We destroy and hurt others. And that’s not so different from animals either. We’re all living creatures trying to survive, trying to connect, trying to protect what we love. Humans have empathy and love. But animals do too. So… are we humble enough to accept that we are not above them? So before we end today, I want to leave you with some questions: Do you believe animals can love? And if your answer is yes, what would change in your life? Like… would you treat them differently? Would you see nature differently? Would you see yourself differently? Alright guys, I’m Miss Y, and I really hope you enjoyed learning English with me today. If you liked this episode, come back next time for another fun 15 to 20 minutes of simple, clear English—and a brand-new topic to explore. Stay curious, learn the world in simple English with Miss Y, and I’ll talk to you again soon. Bye!Leave a comment and share your thoughts: Powered by Firstory Hosting