What is the main idea of the passage?

Animal experience must be inferred from converging behavior and biology, with uncertainty guiding caution rather than denial. (The passage builds a middle position using multiple evidence types and proportionate moral caution.)

Why does the author mention people who cannot describe experience?

It shows that responsible inference under uncertainty is already part of human care. (The comparison supports cautious action without requiring verbal reports or complete certainty.)

What does “inference” mean?

a conclusion drawn from available evidence (The passage reasons from behavior and biology toward a mental state that cannot be observed directly.)

What does an injured dog do in the example?

protects a paw (The second paragraph gives the dog protecting a paw as behavioral evidence.)

How Do We Know an Animal Feels?: Level 2 Reading Comprehension Questions

We cannot enter another creature's mind. Even another human tells us about pain through words, expression, and behavior. With animals, language may be different or unavailable, so inference becomes especially important.

Behavior offers evidence. An injured dog protects a paw. An octopus avoids a place where it received a harmful stimulus. Pain-relieving medicine can change some animals' responses. Shared nerves, brains, hormones, and learning also support comparison across species.

No single movement proves one exact feeling. An animal may freeze from fear, attention, or another cause. Human expressions should not simply be copied onto every species. Uncertainty, however, does not mean there is no evidence.

When possible suffering is serious, caution may be reasonable even before complete certainty. We already make choices under uncertainty about people who cannot describe their experience. The careful position is neither “animals feel exactly as I do” nor “nothing can be known.” It is to compare several kinds of evidence and let stronger evidence create stronger duties.

Comprehension questions