Get Premium
Dark mode theme is available exclusively for premium users. Learn more about the benefits of subscribing.
No fees, cancel anytime.
Dark Mode 
No fees, cancel anytime 
We can get an idea of how happy an animal is by observing what they do.
Ferrets chirp when they are having a good time, horses will point their ears towards you and have a relaxed mouth, and parrots sing, whistle, or make a grinding, purring sound with their beak.
Play is one of the more reliable and universal ways to tell if a creature is content. Playful animals will jump into the air, pounce, kick their feet up while they run, and generally be more energetic than they need to be.
But for a more visual explanation, there's the Instagram account The Snuggle Is Real. It shares wholesome photos of both wild and domestic animals living the good life and has made quite a few new posts since our last publication on it, so we thought we can't let you fall behind on its content.
More info: Instagram
This post may include affiliate links.
RELATED:
According to Melissa Starling, a Postdoctoral researcher at the University of Sydney, who holds a BSc (Hons) in zoology and a Ph.D. in dog behavior, personality, emotions and cognition, we can often get a good idea if animals are happy or unhappy by looking at how they are behaving in general.
"A cat that purrs because it's happy may also be winding her body around your legs, or relaxed in your lap, have her tail high in the air, or roll over on her back," Starling said. "All this shows she is trusting and interested."
"Likewise, a rabbit grinding its teeth while relaxing will also likely be stretching its body out as well. You can tell how relaxed a rabbit is by how stretched out it is while resting. If a rabbit is in pain, it tends to hunch up and squeeze its eyes half shut like it is wincing. Animals that are relaxed and not tense are usually happy and content."
#5
Starling said we can also see what animals like to do by what they choose to come back to over and over again.
"If your animal chooses to lie in the sun or look for tasty treats or dig holes, then you know when they are doing that, they are probably happy," the researcher explained.
"So, to know when an animal is happy, we need to look at more than what one body part is doing, and we might need to watch them to get to know them."
#6
Bored Retsuko 3 years ago
Friendly reminder: downvotes are NOT dislike buttons. Downvoting a comment just because you don't agree = not cool. If a comment gets downvoted, its author will get banned from the site. So please downvote only in case of obvious spam ("how to make cash") or if someone is literally harrassing a fellow panda
#9
The question of how do we know if our pets—especially the prehistoric ones—are content has been explored for centuries.
In 1872, Charles Darwin published a whole book on the subject, suggesting that humans and many animals express emotions in similar ways—if anything, emotions actually evolved before our species did.
But philosopher Thomas Nagel said that we’ll never know if this is true or not. In his paper 'What is it like to be a bat?' Nagel wrote that even if we spent our days “hanging upsidedown by one’s feet in an attic,” it’s impossible to know how a bat feels, and not even Batman has that kind of inner access.
#13
Lemonade Midnight 3 years ago
I don't get why this is on the list? It's just a picture of a chess board...
But just because we aren't 100 percent sure how an animal feels, doesn’t mean they don’t feel something.
Dolphins, cows, chimpanzees, dogs, and even squirrels have similar emotional processing centers in the brain as humans, so at the very least, they would experience basic emotions like fear, anger, grief, and joy.
One group of scientists was so sure of this that they signed the Cambridge Declaration on Consciousness in 2012, acknowledging that all mammals and birds (and some invertebrates, like octopuses) are conscious creatures.
Plus, we've all witnessed heartfelt and heart-wrenching displays of animal emotions, like when Damini the elephant reportedly died of grief following the death of her pachyderm partner at the zoo.
Or when Christian the lion joyfully embraced the men who reared him after spending nine months apart.
#19
Charlie grace 3 years ago
I think this is my favourite. It doesn't look like this is their first time climbing that tree
Interestingly, scientists have shown rats exude just as much “happiness,” if not more, than other mammals.
In the ’90s, neuroscientist Jaak Panksepp made a surprising discovery: rats loved being tickled. Turns out, when rats play, they emit high-frequency chirps undetectable by the human ear. Using special equipment to isolate the sounds, Panksepp discovered when he tickled the rats, their feverish chirps were akin to giggling.
#23
Graham Chapman 3 years ago
if those apples are fermented, there's gonna be one hell of a hangover..
$cagsy 3 years ago
If you go down to the woods today, you're in for a big surprise. If you go down to the woods today, you'll never believe your eyes! For every bear that ever there was, is gathered there for certain because, today's the day the teddy bears have their picnic.
Terri Johnson 3 years ago
Not to worry! These are rescue bears being fed a treat. https://people.com/pets/bears-make-happy-noises-over-apples-video/
Pandasizing World Peace 3 years ago
Thank you, what a relief. Some of these comments had me worried.
Load More Replies...
Roborowski 3 years ago
What many do not know. Snow White rejected the apple from the Evil Queen countless times before she finally accepted it
Jerry Ryan 3 years ago
It could be a bait trap used by some hunters I don't hunt but if that is what this is that's cheating on the hunters
Vanessa Richardson 3 years ago
I saw a show about this once—in some places you’re allowed to bait the bears like this during the off season all you’d like. You’re just not allowed to bait them during the hunting season. (I’m not a hunter either.)
Load More Replies...
GoGoPDX 3 years ago
It is probably baiting unfortunately. I hope not, but it looks like it.
Load More Replies...
Heather Lambie 3 years ago (edited)
Is this not bear baiting? If so those bears will be shot by hunters soon☹️
Johanna she/her 3 years ago
Look at the top left of the picture, we could make a movie out of that guy. Barry had just come back from the bathroom to notice they planned a party without him. He goes over to everyone and yells “what is going on here?!” They all stopped what they were doing to look at him, he was already running away, crying. His best friend chased after him but it was to late. Barry was lost. *queue dramatic music*
Bernadette Jamieson 3 years ago
Now that’s what you do, when you don’t want them to get near your cabin.
Sharon Hahn 3 years ago
The tree behind them is using its roots to walk over and have some, too!
Kerry Ericksson 3 years ago
Healthy looking bears maybe in a protected park,I hope.Nice to them fed and content
April Pickett 3 years ago
Those are fermented apples, dumped as bait for the bears. The bears will be shot and killed.
April Pickett 3 years ago
Hunters do this to make it easy to kill the bears. I read that they do this in the northeastern part of the country (U.S.). Yes, the apples are fermented.
Vanessa Priest 3 years ago
I noticed around the 11 O'clock position, it looks like the bottom of the tree has a creature with eyes and a big reddish mouth and arms that look to be reaching for them apple loving bears
Vanesa Priest 3 years ago
The bottom of thatbtree to the left looks like a creature with eyes amd reddish big mouth and arm that reach towards the bears... Around 11 clock position
Katy McMouse 3 years ago
See the one hanging in the way back, just staring? There's a reason why he's there and not a part of the scrum.... (cue creepy organ music and crashing thunder).
Ruth Meszaros 3 years ago
Wrong thing to do! Who the hell would want to gather all those bears in one place?
Add New Image
Explore more of these tags
What do you think ?
Bored Retsuko 3 years ago
Friendly reminder: downvotes are NOT dislike buttons. Downvoting a comment just because you don't agree = not cool. If a comment gets downvoted, its author will get banned from the site. So please downvote only in case of obvious spam ("how to make cash") or if someone is literally harrassing a fellow panda
Adam Jeff 3 years ago
I disagree (although I didn't downvote you). I think that's exactly what the downvote button is for, to show you disagree with something. I usually don't continue to downvote if they're already at the 'this comment is hidden' stage though.
Load More Replies...
Dillon Brown 3 years ago
31 actually, if you look at the bottom of a lof of these before you can vote on the article as a whole there is a little small grey spot that's say this was originally 31 but was cut down to 30. Sometimes the OG article can be hundreds of posts long.
Load More Replies...
EVELIN MENDOZA SOTO 3 years ago
to be honest all these pictures are so cute these animals no cap
Bored Retsuko 3 years ago
Friendly reminder: downvotes are NOT dislike buttons. Downvoting a comment just because you don't agree = not cool. If a comment gets downvoted, its author will get banned from the site. So please downvote only in case of obvious spam ("how to make cash") or if someone is literally harrassing a fellow panda
Adam Jeff 3 years ago
I disagree (although I didn't downvote you). I think that's exactly what the downvote button is for, to show you disagree with something. I usually don't continue to downvote if they're already at the 'this comment is hidden' stage though.
Load More Replies... Dillon Brown 3 years ago
31 actually, if you look at the bottom of a lof of these before you can vote on the article as a whole there is a little small grey spot that's say this was originally 31 but was cut down to 30. Sometimes the OG article can be hundreds of posts long.
Load More Replies... EVELIN MENDOZA SOTO 3 years ago
to be honest all these pictures are so cute these animals no cap
You May Like “Nature Is Cruel”: After Being Rejected By Mother, Baby Monkey Finds Comfort In Stuffed Toy If You Think Your Tabby Is Funny, Wait Until You See These Silly Maine Coon Cats Cat Meme Therapy: 100 Posts to Brighten Your Day
Karina Babenok
Akvile Petraityte 🇺🇦
Mantas Kačerauskas
Related on Bored Panda
