Why Dogs Smile & Chimpanzees Cry

This is an impressive documentary. It's scientific without being dry, and it's tender and engaging without the stereotypical tricks to pull on your emotions. As a vegetarian and animal rights activist, I care about how animals are treated and what they feel--but this movie surprised me by showing me how much I don't know about the complexity of these emotions. I wish that humans were all so excited about welcoming a new baby to the community and as loyal and empathetic in times of distress as some of the animals in the movie demonstrated. It's amazing to see these "inside stories" of their lives unfold, almost like looking through a window into another world. I can't wait to watch it again and share it with my friends.

This show was an excellent discussion platform for my whole family. My nine year old is a particular 'softy' with regard to animals and she kept jumping up going "see, see, I was right, they do care!". The wide variety of animals covered is just amazing, and the documentary style is wonderful. I particularly like the fact that it doesn't harp too much on the almost doctrinal belief of evolution, nor does it beat us up about the earth's atmosphere, global warming, or the destruction of the rain-forests. It stays true to the theme and doesn't try to guilt you while teaching you. It is actually quite upbeat, even though it does show a range of emotions. The grief was particularly poignant. I have to admit, I cried several times, and found myself saying "awwwww." more than once. My daughter and I ended up cuddling and laughing at the fact that each of us were weeping over how sweet the film was. We were thoroughly engrossed and sorry to see the film end. I let her stay up much later than normal because it was that good.

I'm a grown man and I wept when I watched the colony of meerkats fall back to comfort a wounded, dying "Bold One" who had confronted a jackal the previous night. I only hope I am treated with such compassion when my hour is at hand.

This movie isn't didactic or preachy. The documentary footage speaks for itself. The film is a revelation about the complexity of social structure among the creatures we share this planet with. Like "March of the Penguins", "Why Dogs Smile" illustrates how much we have in common with wildlife and how much we have yet to learn.

If you want to watch a film with your family, I can't think of anything more uplifting than "Why Dogs Smile."

Although I am coming late to the party, I would like to add another reply to the first posting.

It's true that ordinary people, most of us, do know without a doubt that animals have emotions. But surely you know that science was long hampered, and still is in many quarters, by the denial of emotions (and of any mental life at all, in fact) to nonhuman animals--and by the refusal to discuss or publicly acknowledge this fact. Hence the video is still plenty useful. Its measured tone, exceptional footage of compassionate and other behavior by a myriad of species, and revelations of a variety of emotions (and their evolutionary basis) is, in fact, priceless to those of us who would like to counter that trend. At least I've found it so for college students who find themselves unsure and confused about what's going on with animals other than the ones they're most familiar with.

That said, I do appreciate your objection to referring to emotions shared by many species as "human." Someday I hope that many will see the arrogance and inaccuracy of that usage. But one must consider one's audience--and that usage often gets a point across to a popular audience.

First of all, yes, animals have emotions. If you didn't know that already, then I believe you are a moron. But let's assume that none of us are morons. We all know that animals have emotions, and we now want to see how these emotions are manifest in nature, correct?

What we get instead is a tedious and ridiculously simplistic documentary that attempts to show how animals are "human". The filmmakers search high & low for footage of animals engaged in human-like behaviour, and when it happens they say, "That monkey is almost human!" (that's actually a direct quote).

Everything is in human terms. They waste time theorizing about what makes dogs "smile", but not once do they mention what a wagging tail means. The arrogance of these researchers is disgusting. They even go so far as to show chimpanzees dressed in human clothing and wearing a cowboy hat.

I had been expecting an insightful documentary of animals on their own terms. I wanted to learn how animals emote in their OWN languages. But instead, researchers keep falling back on pedantic, anthropomorphic observations and assumptions. Add a cheezy soundtrack and images of chimps "celebrating Christmas", and this was enough to turn my stomach.

But it doesn't end there. Half of this documentary is filmed not in the wild but in laboratories and experimental facilities. All the camera shots of chimps are through steel bars, and we see how these monkeys are crowded together in their sterile concrete cages. One particularly sobering moment happens near the beginning (though you have to be quick to notice it) where a captive monkey says in sign language, "Want out. Hurry go."

Obscure references are made to "stress tests" and psychological experiments which I shudder to imagine. Baby monkeys are separated from their mothers at birth and are given wireframe dolls in order to prove that baby monkeys crave a "mother figure". And after 40 years of experiments, the smug researchers pat themselves on the back for reaching their brilliant conclusion: monkeys have emotions.

One chimp named "Washoe" has been in a concrete cage since 1966 for that purpose, and to this day she remains thus. We get a brief glimpse (again through bars) of her leaning against a concrete wall with a rather lackluster expression. Personally, I don't need to see any further experimental data. Washoe, I apologize for our entire species.