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To properly assess animal emotions, scientists
and animal behaviorists must study animals in the
field or in the home. The environment can be
manipulated, but cannot be controlled absolutely.
What is important is how the animal behaves in its
own environment and how it interacts with its
environment and with others. The observer must
interpret the behavior and decide whether the
subject is fearful, apprehensive, angry etc. To
ensure a consistent approach, the animal's behavior
may classified according to a shortlist of likely
emotions or on a sliding scale for a particular
attribute e.g. fearfulness or curiousness. Similar
methods are used in assessing the behavior of very
young children.
A growing number of farmers, particularly those
in the organic sector, are recognizing the need
for animals to express instinctive behaviors.
Although some stress is unavoidable in farming,
animals which suffer minimal stress may be more
productive, have better immune systems, be less
prone to disease and have a lower mortality
(wastage) rate. This is even more apparent in zoos
and wildlife parks where environmental enrichment
and encouragement of natural behavior has led to
"happier" (less stressed) animals more
likely to breed successfully in captivity.
The
Four Basic Behaviors
Animal behaviorists recognize four basic behaviors
which are found in most animals. These are termed
"The Four Fs". These are the four basic
instinctive responses which aid survival:
 Fight
Flight (or hide)
Feed (predation or foraging)
F*** (mate or reproduce) - the crudity helps
psychologists with the mnemonic
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