Humans, apes, elephants, and dolphinsare the species withgreater ability to empathize with others, as explained by the ethologist and biologist Frans de Waal, expert in the social intelligence of primates, during the congress of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), held until yesterday in Barcelona.
In his latest work, entitledThe age of empathy, which for the moment has been published in English (2009, Harmony books) and will soon go on sale in Spanish, the prestigious Dutch biologist clarifies thatall mammals are capable of empathy,but only some species have enoughintelligence to adapt their behavior to the situation.
To explain the different levels of empathy that exist, De Waal gives as an example “young children, who cry when they see another child cry because they feel empathy”, but when they are older “they adapt their behavior and try to comfort the afflicted or seek the cause of crying. “
Transferring the example to the animal world, “if a monkey breaks an arm, the mother feels it, but she does not slow down or modify her behavior, so that the wounded little primate is forced to endure”. However, “if a young chimpanzee breaks an arm, the mother will be careful with the baby, carry it more, and slow down.”
Dolphins and elephants show the same capacity for understanding, despite the fact that they are species far removed from humans. The reason is the size of their brain, since “if you add intelligence to the capacity of mammals to feel empathy, the result iscompression, comfort and other complex reactions“.
“The human being is the species of primates with the largest brain”, hence it is the species “with the greatest capacity to do good and also the species with the greatest capacity to do evil.”empathy is also necessary to do evilBecause you must know what the other person feels to apply what you know hurts, “added de Waal.
