wild justice the moral lives of animals Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce The UniversiTy of ChiCago Press : ChiCago and London marc bekoff is professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. His websites are http://literati.net/Bekoff and http://www.ethologicalethics.org. Jessica Pierce is a philosopher and writer who lives in Colorado. Her homepage is http://www.jessicapierce.net. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London © 2009 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 2009 Printed in the United States of America 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 1 2 3 4 5 isbn-13: 978–0-226–04161–2 (cloth) isbn-10: 0–226–04161–1 (cloth) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Bekoff, Marc. Wild justice : the moral lives of animals / Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn-13: 978-0-226-04161-2 (cloth : alk. paper) isbn-10: 0-226-04161-1 (cloth : alk. paper) 1. Social behavior in animals. 2. Animal behavior. 3. Motivation in animals. 4. Animal psychology. I. Pierce, Jessica, 1965– II. Title. ql775.b439 2009 591.5—dc22 2008040173 a The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48–1992. MarC dedicates this book to his parents, who taught him the values of compassion and justice early on. close encounters with numerous animals also taught him these valuable lessons. JessiCa dedicates this book to the animals she has known and loved. ConTenTs PrefaCe into the wild : ix 1 Morality in Animal Societies an embarrassment of riches : 1 2 Foundations for Wild Justice what animals do and what it means : 24 3 Cooperation reciprocating rats and back-scratching baboons : 55 4 Empathy mice in the sink : 85 5 Justice honor and fair play among beasts : 110 6 Animal Morality and Its Discontents a new synthesis : 136 acknowledgments : 155 notes : 157 general references : 163 index : 175 PrefaCe into the wild It is quite possible that there are . . . a number of intelligent men and women who are not yet aware of the fact that wild animals have moral codes, and that on average they live up to them better than men do theirs. william hornaday, The Minds and Manners of Wild Animals A teenage female elephant nursing an injured leg is knocked over by a rambunctious, hormone-laden teenage male. An older female sees this happen, chases the male away, and goes back to the younger female and touches her sore leg with her trunk. Eleven elephants rescue a group of captive antelope in KwaZula-Natal; the matriarch undoes all of the latches on the gates of the enclosure with her trunk and lets the gate swing open so the antelope can escape. A rat in a cage refuses to push a lever for food when it sees that another rat receives an electric shock as a result. A male diana monkey who has learned to insert a token into a slot to obtain food helps a female who can’t get the hang of the trick, insert- ing the token for her and allowing her to eat the food reward. A female fruit-eating bat helps an unrelated female give birth by showing her how to hang in the proper way. A cat named Libby leads her elderly, deaf, and blind dog friend, Cashew, away from obstacles and to food. In a group of chimpanzees at the Arnhem Zoo in the Netherlands individuals pun- ish other chimpanzees who are late for dinner because no one eats until everyone’s present. A large male dog wants to play with a younger and more submissive male. The big male invites his younger partner to play : ix