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Examining Bird vs. Human Expectations Sheila Blanchette discusses anthropomorphism in the world of companion birds, highlighting the risks of inaccurate labels and reinforcing undesired behaviors through a lack of understanding behavior and body language, as well as the potential advantages of anthropomorphism in terms of animal welfare
© Can Stock Photo / Vividrange
Building trust: the humanavian relationship goal should be creating a mutual trusting partnership
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nthropomorphism is quite a mouthful of a word, defined by Lex ico (2021) as “the attribution of human characteristics or behav ior to a god, animal, or object.” Anthropomorphism is commonly seen in our daytoday lives through social media, television, cartoons, movies, and also, maybe, when we are talking to our own animals. In the United States, one such example is Smokey Bear, “a campaign and advertising icon of the U.S. Forest Service.” (Wikipedia, 2021). Smokey is an upright black bear dressed in human clothing, including a hat, and carrying a shovel. He is an anthropomorphic image of a bear “to edu cate the public about the dangers of unplanned humancaused wild fires.” (Wikipedia, 2021). According to Butterfield et al. (2012), “[a]lthough individuals are un
likely to truly believe that anthropomorphized animals are actually human, anthropomorphism may trigger innate tendencies to treat them as if they were. This possibility is consistent with a growing body of liter ature that suggests that anthropomorphism alters the ways in which people perceive, interact with, and respond to nonhuman entities.” With the example of Smokey Bear, if adults are camping in the woods, they certainly do not expect a wild bear to stop by and talk to them about campfire safety. But they may well remember the Smokey Bear campaign and be more likely to pay greater attention to making sure the fire is completely out before they leave the area. Obviously, they will be hoping to avoid any close encounter with a wild bear around their campfire!
According to Martin (2002): “Parrots have no natural inclination to form a dominance hierarchy with other parrots in the wild, or with humans in captivity. Parrots may be moved to show aggression for many different reasons when they are higher than human eye level. However, the desire to dominate should not be considered as one of those reasons.”
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BARKS from the Guild/November 2021
