Animal Companions
It seems to me that Koko the Gorilla offers the greatest evidence for sentience in animals. I am not sure why that when it comes to discussing animal intelligence she is not referenced more often. That said, there is lots of evidence for animals having memories and responding in ways that would be uncharacteristic of just biological machines. Christian the Lion is a good example. A lion cub raised by human children, released to the wild, recognizing the kids when they were grown up. But it was more than that. Christian remembered them, and the pride it governed also showed discernment- responding to humans as family, because Christian called them family. This was captured on video. This is evidence for at least love, an emotional bond that transcends being human. Can you have love without sentience?
The divide between those who believe animals are just animals and those who believe there is more going on is likely as divisive as those who argue UFOs are weather balloon and UFOs are aliens. There is growing evidence that even plants have more going on than humans allow for, and that conversation will likely be an even harder sell when there is no agreement on animals holding sentience.
A dog name Chaser reportedly knows 1,022 words. That doesn’t denote sentience, but it is impressive. Koko the gorilla…
