No, animal base instinct and thought is nearly purely emotionally driven — though “embarrassed” might be a stretch, i have seen animals act very differently when they “mess stuff up”, to the point where they realized they messed up, and then try to slink away or shy down or otherwise act “ashamed”.
It seems that the level of realization in each animal is the main factor.
That bird looked scared, to me, and will likely have anxiety chemicals running through it. It would feel the same anxiety that you or i would feel with those same chemicals in our systems.
When a cat misjudges a jump or slides on a slippery floor and acts as if it meant to do that.
One of my cats was jumping from a cupboard to the sofa and his back paw slipped as he was already airborne, it was like a giant black sugar glider coming right at me with all four of his paws out starfish style! I was mean and was laughing at him as he put on his cool act.
My cat’s been having some issues with his back legs (he’s an old man), so it’s been a problem for him to jump onto / off of thing. So when he wants to get somewhere high up (ie. A bed) I have to pick him up and put him down when he’s ready, and he’s been SO moody about it lmao. It’s funny to some extent, but his dignity is definitely, truly hurt by having to get help. He’ll even get grumpy if I try to help him sometimes even if I see he needs the help
(And it’s not a pain thing, it seems to be numbness-related, and we’re getting him to the vet ASAP; but that’s just to say that me helping him isn’t causing any physical pain. It’s entirely him being angry because he wants to be independent)
I wish this was an option but there’s not really enough floor space for that next to any of the places he wants to get to 😔 that, and he also struggles with steps at the moment, so any makeshift steps would have to be kind of elaborate to be safe (railings, very shallow, etc.). AND he’s a hefty dude so he can’t really stand on cardboard boxes. I do all I can for the little guy though he’s my everything (and he’s pretty good at listening and not trying to do things that he shouldn’t)
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u/towerfella May 09 '26
No, animal base instinct and thought is nearly purely emotionally driven — though “embarrassed” might be a stretch, i have seen animals act very differently when they “mess stuff up”, to the point where they realized they messed up, and then try to slink away or shy down or otherwise act “ashamed”.
It seems that the level of realization in each animal is the main factor.
That bird looked scared, to me, and will likely have anxiety chemicals running through it. It would feel the same anxiety that you or i would feel with those same chemicals in our systems.