For many years, scientists have asked themselves how animals truly feel emotions. They think they might have found an answer to that. 

Scientific research has shown many times that many animals’ complex nervous systems and brain structures associated with emotions are similar to humans. This means that certain animals experience emotions much like humans do, though the depths and complexity may vary across species. While professionals can’t directly ask them how they feel, they can observe their behaviour and physiological responses, which can provide insight into their emotional state.

It was discovered that animals can feel positive emotions such as joy, affection, curiosity, and playfulness. While they can feel all these, they can also experience emotional pain like fear, isolation distress, depression, boredom, and anger. They can also experience grief and even demonstrate empathy.

Animals express their feelings through a variety of behaviours. Body language is one of them. For example, a dog will wag his tail when it is happy or excited. It will also flatten his ears when he is scared or agitated. Many animals use sounds to convey emotions. Dogs may bark when they’re excited or anxious, while cats might purr when they are content. Whales sing complex songs, and birds chirp to communicate with one another. Some animals also have facial expressions that can indicate their emotional state. Primates like gorillas have facial muscles similar to humans and can display expressions of joy by smiling and anger by frowning, and more.

Studies have shown that animals can form social bonds with members of their own kind and sometimes members of other species. With this information, they proved that animals can form deep and emotional connections with one another.

Overall, animals feel emotions like humans do because the brain structures associated with feelings are very similar. They just don’t express it the same way a human would.