Which animals are most capable of love and affection (for each other not necessarily toward humans)?

Question

Obviously love is a loaded term. For the purposes here I ll define it as sacrificial behavior without any obvious or direct evolutionary advantage. For example sharing food helps the group survive which would improve overall survival and replication but doesn t have any obvious or direct connection. I d assume it would be animals with complex social structures like canids, elephants, great apes, dolphins, orcas but
I don t really know anything about the biology of bonding/love and some of the most complex animal behavior I ve seen is from birds which I don t think have social structures

Answer 1

Mammals and birds provide parental care, and many of them often risk their lives to protect their own young. A mother bear and a tigress for example will take on the larger males of their own species to protect their own young from infanticide. Males often back off. In fact, a documentary about cats show that a male mountain lion will act as docile as possible if it wants to go near a female with cubs so as not to induce aggressive behavior by the female. They do this to try to share a carcass that the female has killed. Additional videos show that mountain lions share food with each other, as long as they act non-aggressively. The Killdeer is well known for faking a broken wing to distract predators and chickens will cover their chicks under their wings when attacked by a hawk.



Scientists have found that mammals have a hormone known as oxytocin, which is linked to sexual and social behavior. Oxytocin is released by the pituitary gland and it makes the animal feel good when it reaches the brain. Oxytocin used to be called the love hormone because it is released during sexual intercourse, but it has been renamed the bonding hormone as it is found to be released when a mother cares for her young and when people bond with each other without having sex. Birds and reptiles have a different hormone, known as vasotocin, from which oxytocin have evolved. Vasotocin is apparently the bonding chemical used in birds and reptiles. It is also linked to sexual and social behavior. In fact even fish have a similar chemical and it is well known that some fish provide parental care.



It would appear therefore that mammals and birds, and to some extinct fish, amphibians and reptiles are capable of love. It may be one reason an adult lion can bond with a human and another reason a goose may be inseparable from a tortoise.

Answer 2

Birds do indeed have social structures (but I would be hesitant to use the word "love" to describe their behavior).



Animals show affection but it is hard to know if that is "love" or not (affection could be explained as "adaptive" in terms of evolution).



My dog sure likes it when I feed her and she snuggles up to me when she wants attention but is that "love" or just a trade arrangement? She has defended me against a bear for example (she risked her life to save me) but is that "love" or just instinct for survival (wolves can defeat larger more powerful animals by working as a team but each member of the team has to be brave and not back down or it all falls apart - they know this instinctively). My dog shows affection, and I like it, and I could interpret it as "love" but I am not sure it is. I'm not convinced it isn't either. I guess what I'm saying is that it is hard to know. We humans are good at interpreting animal behavior through our own lens (i.e. we often give animals human characteristics when it might not be appropriate).

Answer 3

Dolphins

Answer 4

Lemmings, older lemmings commit suicide so that the younger ones can have food.