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Many animals return the affection shown to them by humans.

Animal love or animal friendship are emotions of fondness that lead to bonding with non-human species.

The love for animals stems from many causes. For many people, bonding to a pet or animal is a natural and valued process – children often do this very deeply, as do many adults who consider themselves animal lovers. Some people who are unable to find suitable human love (or who have lost their lifetime partner) may find themselves having a great deal of love for their pet. For others, strong ethical stances are also a part of their love for animals – for example, in connection with or related to conservationism, environmentalism, and/or veganism/vegetarianism. One can love animals out of a general respect for nature and the environment, or become a vegetarian or conservationist out of one’s love for animals.

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Terminology

Separate terms for various animals:

  • hippophilia/hippophile: Attraction/attracted to horses
  • ornithophilia: Love of birds
  • ailurophilia: Love of felines

The Greek word zoophilia means “animal love” when literally translated, and in Greek it originally has the notion of animal friendship. In modern day colloquial English however, the word zoophilia is nearly always used to describe a sexual attraction towards animals.

Trivia

  • Animal Love is also the name of a German documentary from 1995 by filmmaker Ulrich Seidl in which he shows the problematic lives of some animal lovers.

See also

  • Animal welfare
  • Human-animal marriage
  • Affectional bond
  • Anthrozoology
  • Emotion in animals
  • Animal loss
  • Rainbow Bridge (pets)

References

  1. ^ IMDB info on Tierische Liebe (animal love) documentary

External links

  • Opinion article on the need for animal love
  • MarryYourPet.com: a site for unofficial “marriages” between people and pets (includes love stories, and other aspects)

Retrieved from “http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animal_love”
Categories: Pets | Animal welfare | Love | Human-animal relationshipsHidden categories: NPOV disputes from June 2008 | All NPOV disputes


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