In the article written by Jeremy Rifkin titled “A Change of Heart about Animals,” Rifkin argues that researchers have found that animals are similar to humans, which changes our perspectives of them. He elaborates how the research funded by fast food franchises reveal that pigs require mental and physical stimuli to function and how that caused European countries to change the way they treat pigs. The author extends on the similar emotional and cognitive abilities of animals and humans by demonstrating studies on the conceptual abilities of New Caledonian crows and the language abilities of Koko the gorilla. Rifkin continues to describe how animals have self-awareness and understand when they die, as evidenced by observations of orangutans
