Empathy is the capacity to understand or feel what another person is experiencing from within the other person's frame of reference, i.e., the capacity to place oneself in another's shoes.
Elephants
Asian elephants have just been added to the list of animals that show tremendous concern for others. A study in the journal PeerJ found that when an Asian elephant detects that another is stressed out, it uses its trunk to gently caress the suffering elephant and emits a sweet-sounding chirp.
"I've never heard that vocalization when elephants are alone," lead author Joshua Plotnik said. "It may be a signal like, 'Shshhh, it's okay,' the sort of sounds a human adult might make to reassure a baby."
https://news.discovery.com/animals/zoo-animals/elephants-intelligence-test-110307.htm
Ravens
Empathy is for the birds too. Ravens are a species of corvid, an avian group that tends to be highly intelligent.
Researchers at the Konrad Lorenz Research Station in Austria found that ravens console friends feeling stressed after fights. The large black birds did this by sitting next to the distressed bird and sometimes preening it or gently engaging in beak-to-beak or beak-to-body touching. As for elephants, this appears to convey reassurance of support.
https://news.discovery.com/animals/ravens-remember-you-120419.htm
Mice
Empathy may be more widespread in the animal kingdom than is currently believed. Often it is simply hard to prove such feelings and related behaviors during experiments. Studies on mice reveal that they detect the pain and suffering of familiar others. They only seem to console friends and relatives, though.
"Mice are capable of a more complex form of empathy than we ever believed possible," said Garet Lahvis, an assistant professor at Oregon Health & Science University who studied the rodents. "We believe there's a genetic contribution to the ability for empathy that has broad implications for autism research and other psychosocial disorders."
https://news.discovery.com/animals/some-mice-are-permanently-fearless-around-cats-131003.htm
Rats
Like mice and humans, rats can automatically sense and respond to others' positive and negative emotions, such as excitement, fear or anger. Jaak Panksepp of Washington State University and his team discovered that rats help other stressed out rats with no explicit rewards at stake.
"Simplified models of empathy, as in mice and rats, offer new inroads for understanding our own social-emotional nature and nurture," he wrote in a Science paper. "Such knowledge may eventually help us promote nurturant behaviors in humans."
https://news.discovery.com/tech/biotechnology/two-rats-communicate-brain-to-brain-130227.htm
Gorillas
Dawn Prince Hughes, author of the book "Gorillas Among Us: A Primate Ethnographer's Book of Days," spent a decade directly observing Western lowland gorillas. His research shows there is little doubt that they comfort and care for each other. They will even play and care for dolls, seemingly pretending that the toys are infants or pals.
Hughes observed one young gorilla, Nonesha, go through the gorilla version of the terrible two's. She would cry and trip, falling flat on her face. Nonesha's observant father would then "sigh deeply and pat her softly on the back," according to Hughes. Mother Binami would then "rush over to whisk (Nonesha) away, looking apologetic."
https://news.discovery.com/animals/videos/animals-gorillas-play-tag.htm
Crows
"Crows and other corvids are highly complex cognitively and socially," Renee Ha of the University of Washington said after studying the birds. Crows seem to exhibit empathy, primarily for relatives.
Oranguatans
The word "orangutan" is derived from the Malay term "man of the forest," a fitting moniker for one of our closest relatives. Just as a happy or depressed person can affect the moods of other people, so too is emotion "contagious" among orangutans.
Davila Ross from the University of Portsmouth observed that orangutans are so full of empathy for others that they take on their moods. The good news is that this seems to apply to happiness as well. Orangutans, for example, have an open-mouthed expression combined with a joyful noise that is thought to be their version of laughter. When one orangutan laughs, chances are, others will join in.
Cats and Dogs
As pet owners worldwide could attest, many dogs and cats exhibit extraordinary empathy toward other animals, including familiar humans. Felines have a reputation for aloofness, but many studies show cats can be very perceptive of emotions. Both dogs and cats, sensing that their human is distressed, will often approach and make soothing contact with the person.
P.S.
Excluded some for fear of this being too long. Everything and more you can find in the link below.
Source:
https://news.discovery.com/animals/elephants-added-to-list-of-animals-that-show-empathy-140218.htm
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