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De Waal points to recent research documenting evidence of empathy and reciprocity in primates, as well as neuroscience studies showing that moral decision-making isn't limited to the younger parts of our brains. 'Imaging human brains has shown that moral dilemmas activate a wide variety of areas, some of them present in all mammals and closely tied to the emotions,' he explains.

In another recent finding, spindle cells -- complex neurons once dubbed 'the cell that makes us human' -- were discovered inside the brain of a humpback whale. In 2004 New Scientist described these brain cells as 'an explanation for [humans'] ability to love, empathize, feel guilt or embarrassment, to understand deception and cooperation.' When Patrick Hof from Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and a colleague discovered the cells in the whale's brain, Hof was still reticent to draw a connection to humans. As Hof warned in New Scientist (Nov. 2006), 'We must be careful about anthropomorphic interpretation of intelligence in whales.'

In response, Bradshaw asks, 'Why do we have to be so careful?' A bevy of scientific evidence suggests that animals can think and feel, and even are self-aware. 'If we start looking at animals as people,' she says, we might think twice about eating that next hamburger or building that next dam. After all, if the dolphins are talking behind our backs, maybe other animals are too.

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