I was reading about a psychological animal experiment last night, and while interesting, it was typically mean.

Is there a single animal study that doesn't involve either torture or just plain annoyance of animals?

Is there a test to see how loud a tabby cat purrs when it's loved & pet compared to a siamese?

Of course not! But there's definitely a test that determines what happens when a cat is raised by an evil robot, or what happens when you poke a cat's eyes, or when you don't feed a cat, or just how much pain it takes before a bunny loses its cuteness.

What the hell is wrong with science?!
[Edited 3/12/09 11:40am]

IN the experiment I read about, a bunch of monkeys were in a cage, and there were bananas at the top of a pole. Whenever a monkey climbed the pole for a banana they people would spray him with a fire hose.

The monkeys learned, and when a new one was brought in and tried to climb the pole, they others would stop him to prevent him from being sprayed. Eventually there were all new monkeys, none of which had been sprayed by the fire hose, but all of which knew not to climb the pole.

That's mildly interesting to know that monkeys can pass on learned behavior, but it's just fucking mean!!

Who funds this shit?