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Message: <blockquote data-quote="s. james" data-source="post: 1861555" data-attributes="member: 21133">Although not a scientifically rigorous example here's an extract from the first chapter of "The Emotional Lives of Animals" by Mark Bekoff that is directly related to the original post..."Magpies are corvids, a very intelligent family of birds. One magpie had obviously been hit by a car and was lying dead on the side of the road. The four other magpies were standing around him. One approached the corpse, gently pecked at it - just as an elephant noses the carcass of another elephant - and stepped back. Another magpie did the same thing. Next, one of the magpies flew off, brought back some grass, and laid it by the corpse. Another magpie did the same. Then all four magpies stood vigil for a few seconds and one by one they flew off."Although there might be a number of possible explanations, Bekoff suggests that the birds both knew what they were doing and were showing respect to the dead magpie.There are a number of books and papers out regarding cognition and emotions in animals by scientists such as Bekoff, Jonathan Balcombe, Bernd Heinrich and Gordan Burghardt. They're all "proper" scientists and from the evidence they provide it seems pretty clear that birds are emotional animals that can feel pleasure, pain etc.</blockquote>