MORNING SENTINEL • February 24, 2021
It’s more or less accepted medical wisdom that pets provide emotional nourishment for humans — though what that means, exactly, is what’s so slippery. Cats and dogs clearly evince moral behaviors such as loyalty, courage, protectiveness; dogs feel shame and cats, embarrassment. It’s also clear that some kind of emotional symbiosis transpires between humans and other sentient creatures besides mammals. Like birds and dolphins. And Dan and the jumping spider. ~ Dana Wilde