Smiling is a natural form of communication. Words are not always necessary to convey a pleasant feeling. None of us can really know what is going on in someone else’s life, and a smile can say, without a single word, I care. But are human beings the only living creatures of God’s creation that can smile?
What does science say about the ability, or lack of ability, of animals to smile? And, do animals understand when we smile at them?
Well, do they? The short answer is an unequivocal: it depends. Maybe yes, and maybe no. It depends on the animal. We smile when we wish to express happiness, amusement, even sarcasm, but how animals perceive our smiles—the reason we smile—can vary widely across the animal kingdom.
Take a lion, for instance. I imagine if you were on safari in Africa and ended up in a situation where lunch would be just you and a hungry lion, a smile might not change the lion’s mind about his main course. You would still be lunch. However, a lion raised by humans in a home setting just might see a smile differently than his wild kin.
Christian, an African lion, was born on August 12, 1969, in captivity and purchased by John Rendall and Anthony Bourke later that year. These two young men raised Christian in their apartment for a year until he grew so large that he required a larger space to live in. John and Anthony worked for Harrod’s department store in London, and they acquired the permissions and permits to create a living space for Christian in the basement of Harrod’s. For another year, Christian lived with his human fathers. John and Anthony were allowed to exercise Christian in the Moravian church graveyard and took him on trips to the seaside (imagine the surprise while you’re soaking up the sun and see a full-grown lion walk by.)
Sadly, due to the cost of his care and his growing size, it soon became apparent that Christian could no longer live in London. When the movie Born Free was being made, John and Anthony met Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, the human stars of the movie, and they directed them to George Adamson, a British conservationist who advocated for lions in Kenya. He and his wife had raised Elsa the lioness the real star of Born Free. Together they made the decision to reintegrate Christian into the wild at the Kora National Reserve.
John and Anthony accompanied Christian to Kenya and stayed a few months while Adamson began his integration back into the wild by introducing him to an older male named Boy and a young female cub named Katania. This formed the nucleus of Christian’s pride. However, life can be unkind in the wild and Katania was killed by crocodiles. Boy was severely injured and no longer had the ability to socialize with other lions and humans, and Adamson had to euthanize him. This left Christian alone, the only surviving member of his pride. But, with patience and time, Christian was able to establish a pride in the region around Kora.
So, what does Christian’s story have to do with smiling? Sometime around 1974, John and Anthony returned to Kenya to visit their old friend. Adamson thought Christian might not remember them. Would he? They went out into the bush and soon found Christian and his pride. At first, he was cautious in his approach. I assume they called to him, with smiles and excited voices. When Christian recognized who they were, he ran to them, stood up on his back legs, and wrapped his front legs around them in a marvelous, bear hug, nuzzling their smiling faces. I imagine Christian was smiling, too, in whatever way lions smile.
Sources: enviroliteracy.org/animals/do-animals-understand-when-we-smile; wikiepedia.org/wiki/Christian_the_lion