12. How Do Animals Show Their Love?

Humans believe they know what love is, and value it highly, Yet many who study animal behavior are 1) cautious about saying animals experience love, preferring to say they are not 2) displaying “true love”, but simply following the dictates of their genes.

Is it really as simple as all that? What about the animals who stay together until one dies? Evolutionary biologists often say that pairing is a way to ensure 3) adequate parental care, but it’s not always clear this is the case, Some animals continue to 4) accompany each other when not raising young. And they appear to 5) exhibit sorrow or show a sense of loss when one of the pair dies.

Animals may fall in love 6) dramatically. According to Lorenztwo geese are most likely to “fall in love”when they have known each other as youngsters, been 7) separated and then meet again. He 8) compared this to a man who meets a woman and—9) astonished that she is the same girl he used to see running around in a school uniform---falls in love and marries her. According to parrot specialist Sue Athan, it is 10) common for some parrots to fall in love at first sight.