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Yes, Animals Get Depressed Too


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Yes, Animals Get Depressed Too - ABC News

Mr. G the goat was feeling baaaad until being reunited with his best bud, a burro named Jellybean.

The two were separated for six days after being rescued from an animal hoarding situation in Southern California. Once the staff at the Animal Place Sanctuary in Grass Valley, California, realized how much Mr. G missed his friend, a volunteer agreed to drive 14 hours to bring the two together.

Mr. G sure seemed mopey and down in the dumps during his separation from Jellybean. But do animals really get depressed?

Possibly, but scientists don’t like using the word depressed when talking about animals, Olivier Berton, an assistant professor of neuroscience in psychiatry at the University of Pennsylvania, says.

“We prefer the term depression-like behavior,” he explained.

Berton, who studies social behavior in rodents and sheepishly admits that he has no experience with goats, says it’s hard enough to pin down a definition of depression in humans let alone animals because it’s such a subjective emotion.

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It's sad that the goats get depression but perhaps that can give us insight into human depression.

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