Evidence for animal empathy challenges assumptions that compassionate behavior is uniquely human.
Evidence for prosocial behavior and empathy in animals is accumulating across many species. Rats will forego food rewards to free trapped companions. Elephants comfort distressed individuals through touch and vocalizations. Chimpanzees help out of pure altruism. These behaviors suggest that the capacity for empathy — understanding and responding to the distress of others — is not uniquely human but is phylogenetically widespread. This has direct welfare implications: animals that can be distressed by the suffering of others are also capable of suffering from it.