Animals have minds. They have brains and use them as we do: for experiencing the world, for thinking and feeling, and for solving the problems of life every creature faces. Like us, they have personalities, moods, and emotions; they laugh, and they play. Some show grief and empathy and are self-aware and very likely conscious of their actions and intents.
Not so long ago, I would have hedged these statements, be-cause the prevailing notion held that animals are more like zombies or robotic machines, capable of responding with only simple, reflexive behaviours. And indeed there are still researchers who insist that animals move through life like the half-dead. But those scientists have been left behind as a flood of new research from biologists, animal behaviourists, evolutionary and ecological biologists, comparative psychologists, and others sweeps away old ideas that have stymied the exploration of animal minds. The question now is not "Do animals think?" It's "How and what do they think?”