Animals are Conscious of Their Actions

Respond to at least one of your colleagues’ postings. Respond to a colleague who selected a different keyword topic than you did. Respond in one or more of the following ways:
Ask a probing question and provide insight into how you would answer your question and why.
Ask a probing question and provide the foundation, or rationale, for the question.
Expand on your colleague’s posting by offering a new perspective or insight.
Agree with a colleague and offer additional (new) supporting information for consideration.
Disagree with a colleague by respectfully discussing and supporting a different perspective.
Support your reply to a colleagues’ assignment post with at least one reference (textbook or other scholarly, empirical resources). You may state your opinion and/or provide personal examples; however, you must also back up your assertions with evidence (including in-text citations) from the source and provide a reference.
I strongly believe that all animals are conscious of their actions. To be conscious means to be aware of and respond to one’s surroundings. Animals demonstrate being conscious by responding to their name being called or running in the kitchen when they hear food being prepared. Animals are also aware of the fact that they need to be able to survive. Wild animals must be aware when predators are around so they can protect themselves and their young. Housebroken animals are aware when they pee on the floor and get punished. They know what they are doing is wrong if they constantly get disciplined for it. They all learn to adapt, which to me, is what being aware is all about.
According to one philosopher, “People are creatures of reason, linked to the mind of God, while animals are merely machines made of flesh—living robots which eat without pleasure, cry without pain, grow without knowing it: they desire nothing, fear nothing, know nothing” (The Economist, 2015). However, anyone that has ever owned a pet, I imagine, would say otherwise. For example, (most) scientists “agree that animals, from rats to parrots and humpback whales, have complex mental capacities; that a few species have attributes once thought to be unique to people, such as the ability to give objects names and use tools; and that a handful of animals—primates, corvids (the crow family) and cetaceans (whales and dolphins)—have something close to what in humans is seen as culture, in that they develop distinctive ways of doing things which are passed down by imitation and example” (The Economist, 2015).
The fact that animals learn the same way that humans do tells us that many of the higher cognitive functions that humans possess are not all that different from the way an animal uses the same cognitive functions. When an animal is tired, it sleeps; when it is scared, it hides; when it is in danger, it protects what it needs to survive; and when it is hungry, it eats. “No animals have all the attributes of human minds, but almost all the attributes of human minds are found in some animal or another” (The Economist, 2015).
“Laboratory tests can be rigorous but are inevitably based on animals that may not behave as they do in the wild. Field observations can be dismissed as anecdotal. Running them for years or decades and on a large scale goes some way to guarding against that problem, but such studies are” (The Economist, 2015). Ethically, I’m against the sacrificing of any animal for whatever reason, but I get it. Animals tend to reproduce quicker so, the chances of the population running out are slim, unless, of course, it’s an endangered species, in which you should just leave the species alone. Testing on animals allows a certain amount of leeway that you couldn’t do with a human specimen. You can’t afford to make the same mistakes you made testing on humans as you do testing on animals. Right now, my mind is trying to justify the harming of innocent animals when I’m strongly against it, but I have to set aside my personal bias and take into account all the breakthroughs that have been made in science due to experimenting on animals first. Also, we eat certain animals daily and think nothing of it. I think it just goes back to the fear of the unknown. Society tends to fear what they don’t understand and not knowing or even caring to know gives people a certain kind of peace of mind to not feel guilty about what is going on in the world, if that makes any type of sense.
Garrett, B., & Hough, G. (2021). Brain & Behavior. SAGE Publications.
The Economist. (2015, December 19). Animals think, therefore...; Animal minds - ProQuest. 
Also reply to teacher's question:
Hello S
Very detailed response to this week's discussion post. Do you know how ethical guidelines for the use of animals in medical research is determine?