A herd of elephants came to the rescue of a baby elephant on a busy road in Kruger National Park in South Africa yesterday.  The story made international news with adorable footage.  The deep bonds elephants share have long been recognized, and this incident confirms they are willing to protect and assist one another.

Why are people so fascinated when a herd of lumbering animals comes to the rescue of a wild youngster? After centuries of being regarded as incapable of reason or consciousness by a number of prominent philosophers, decades of research now confirms that many animals are capable of various levels of learning, thinking, and feeling.  Moreover, animal behaviors have been observed to indicate the underpinnings of a moral sensibility and present a decidedly pro-social orientation, though distinct, not incomparable to humanity.

Behaviors indicative of benevolence (doing good) and empathy have been observed in many species, along with altruism and other virtues.  The examples are as diverse as they are morally provocative.  Consider Jambo the gorilla, who rose to stardom in the mid-1980’sfor protecting a small boy who fell into his enclosure.  Or the curiously empathic rats who assist other trapped rats instead of seeking food, working to free  them and share the food.  There is evidence that elephants grieve their dead, that dolphins are capable of cooperation.  Though elephants’ emotions are well known, it’s only recently that many grassroots efforts have challenged the ivory trade in the U.S.  And of course, there are numerous examples of such ethical behaviors in primates.

 Primates have been observed interacting in ways that are practically   inexplicable outside of some type of moral context.  For instance, one study observed rhesus monkeys in a scenario where securing food by pulling a chain also delivered an electric shock to a companion.  What did they do?  They chose to go hungry – for days – to avoid inflicting pain.  Unfortunately, the complex pro-social behaviors primates exhibit have not protected them either, as evidenced by the persistent effort to continue controversial “maternal deprivation studies.”  Despite such challenges, groups like the Great Ape Project,  Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), and others work to raise awareness and promote responsible stewardship for primates.

When confronted with plausible evidence of sentience and the capacity for a degree of intelligence, capacity for learning, or corresponding moral behavior, human resistance seems to swell.  Almost as quickly as moral behaviors are detected in animals, another host of studies seek to deny or dismiss them.  It’s often posited that human anthropomorphism projects more intent than the animals posses, in attempts to discredit any possible moral overtones of such behaviors.  Why?  Perhaps to deepen the stronghold position of humans as “unique” in the moral universe.   Or perhaps the notion of seeing ethical reflections across the animal kingdom raises too many questions that would necessitate a renegotiation of current practices and treatment of non-human animals.

Maybe those aren’t the right questions. What happens if humans really care about that baby elephant – would more people take action to address the urgent plight of elephants around the world?  What is gained by rigidly limiting the beings in the moral sphere?  Maybe elephants aren’t the only species standing at a crossroad.  As a petition circulates urging the UN to put animals on the global agenda, human morality may yet be strengthened by growing, rather than shrinking, the moral domain.