Moody animals 'can make bad decisions'
4th August 2010
Studies by Charles Darwin and Paul Ekman have helped a team of researchers to understand how an animal's mood can affect its decision-making.
If an animal is in a dangerous environment where it is threatened by predators, the creature will most likely develop a negative mood and will be pessimistic when it comes to making decisions.
The study also found that an animal in an environment where it has plenty of resources to survive - including animals whose owners have taken out pet insurance to cover veterinary bills in the event of them being "threatened by predators" - will be more be positive, and will make optimistic decisions.
The study, by Professor Mike Mendl and Dr Liz Paul from the University of Bristol, and Dr Oliver Burman from the University of Lincoln, was published to help others to understand the emotional lives of animals.
The long-term mood of an animal - pessimistic or optimistic - can reveal what experiences that animal has had, and it can also affect how it makes choices in amibigious situations.
Professor Mike Mendl, head of the Animal Welfare and Behaviour research group at Bristol University's School of Clinical Veterinary Science, said that their research, along with other studies, may be a "valuable new approach" in understanding animals.
He added: "Because we can measure animal choices objectively, we can use optimistic and pessimistic decision-making as an indicator of the animal's emotional state which itself is much more difficult to assess."
Copyright © Press Association 2010
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