Animals such as whales, porpoises, horses and elephants certainly show a sophisticated sense of communication, social organization, loyalty to and empathy for one another and even other species, but I think that is as far as it goes. I have a border collie pup that started a whaling, yapping, and barking fit when he saw one of the sheep roll off a cliff. He got really frantic and it wasn’t just to get my attention, he was losing it, jumping around yelping in panic until I could show the little guy that the sheep was unhurt. After that he nuzzled the sheep and whimpered to it and stuck next to it for the rest of the afternoon as if to make sure it was OK. My adult border collie, on the other hand, stood by on point barking during the event in order to get my attention, which is his job. He didn’t seem all that upset. Afterward Sam, the adult, did a head-to-toe sniff job on the pup as if to make sure he was OK—then snorted and walked away, ignoring the sheep who was no longer in trouble. But my pup was actually trembling afterward. I was pretty impressed by the whole thing. A little Pastorae Dramaticus.
I haven’t caught any of my animals praying yet, though.