Well, I’ve always been curious about whether animals can have autism. So, I decided to dig into this topic and see what I could find out. First, I started by doing some basic research on the internet. I typed in all sorts of keywords, like “animals and autism”, “signs of autism in animals” and so on. I clicked through a bunch of pages, reading all kinds of articles written by different people.
Then, I thought, “Hey, why not talk to some people who actually work with animals?” So, I reached out to a few local animal shelters. I called them up and asked if I could come in and have a chat with their staff. They were pretty cool about it and let me visit. When I got there, I walked around the shelter, checking out all the animals. I asked the workers if they’d ever noticed any strange behaviors in the animals that might be similar to autism in humans.
One of the workers told me about a cat they had. This cat was super shy. It would always hide in the corner and didn’t like to be touched. It had a very set routine. Every day at the same time, it would go to a certain spot in the shelter to sleep. If someone moved its little bed, it would get really upset and meow like crazy until it was put back in the right place. The worker said this was kind of like the repetitive behaviors and sensitivity to change that humans with autism often show.
I also visited a farm. I walked around the barns, looking at the cows and horses. I asked the farmers if they’d seen anything odd. One farmer told me about a horse that was really sensitive to loud noises. Whenever there was a thunderstorm or a tractor passing by, it would start to panic and run around in circles. It also didn’t seem to interact with the other horses in the normal way. It would just stand off to the side by itself.
After all these visits, I went back home and sat down to think about what I’d learned. I made a list of all the signs I’d heard about, like the shyness, the repetitive behaviors, and the sensitivity to change. I also did some more reading to see what experts had to say. According to some studies, about 1 in 100 humans has autism. While there aren’t exact numbers for animals, experts believe that similar neurological differences could exist in the animal kingdom.
Overall, my little investigation into whether animals can have autism was really eye – opening. It made me realize that animals are a lot more complex than we sometimes think. Just like humans, they can have their own unique quirks and behaviors that might be related to neurological differences. And who knows, maybe there’s still a lot more we don’t know about animals and their possible autism – like conditions.