Animals are “in”. Research on animal behavior has never been more vibrant and more revealing of how and why individuals live harmoniously together, and the underlying emotional bases for social living. It’s becoming clear that animals have both emotional and moral intelligences. Researchers have demonstrated that animals have social lives rich beyond our imagining, and that cooperation and caring have shaped the course of evolution every bit as much as competition and ruthlessness have. Individuals form intricate networks and have a large repertoire of behavior patterns that help them get along with one another and maintain close and generally peaceful relationships. Robert W. Sussman, an anthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis, and his colleagues reported that for many nonhuman primates, more than 90 percent of their social interactions are affiliative rather than competitive or divisive.—psychologytoday.com