" Attention to what children actually do, rather than what they tell interviewers about themselves, is revolutionizing our view of moral development: emotions and actions often seem to come first, rationalizations and justifications later. These insights are also relevant for animal research, which of necessity relies on observation. The same techniques can be applied in both cases, as psychologists unintentionally discovered in their experiments in the household: some pets appeared as upset as the children by the "distress" of a family member, hovering over them or putting their heads in their laps with what looked like great concern. Possibly, then, "altruism in the higher human sense" is not limited to our species. "

― Frans de Waal , Good Natured: The Origins of Right and Wrong in Humans and Other Animals