Researcher Jo Edgar, from the School of Veterinary Sciences at the University of Bristol, said: ”The extent to which animals
are affected by the distress of others is of high relevance to the welf
are of farm and laboratory animals.
”Our research has addressed the fundamental question of whether birds have the capacity to show empathic responses.
”We found that adult female birds possess at least one of the essential underpinning attributes of ’empathy’, the ability to be affected by, and share, the emotional state of another.”