When the relevant behavior is similar, the physiological changes associated with the behavior are similar, and the neurobiology that presumably governs the behavior is similar, the most reasonable conclusion is that the emotional lives of nonhuman mammals are, in most respects, approximately as intense as the emotional lives of humans.
I am not sure this follows. Like, maybe you’re missing a source of variability (it could look like a duck, smell like a duck, move like a duck, and then croak like a frog, and then I’m just confused.) Some axes I’d expect to affect this: prey vs predator mammals (I’d expect prey animals to be more “flighty” and “twitchy” ), size of the mammal (if the brain releases some amount of serotonin for a good event, it would be surprising if this scaled in such a way that an elephant and a mouse felt similarly), how social animals are, how rapid the metabolism is (it would really surprise me if I had a similar intensity of experience as a sloth).
It appears unlikely that any species possesses an intensity range that is exclusively extraordinarily mild
I nominate sloths as a possible example, because it seems like they are in what in other mammals would correspond to a permanent state of torpor.
I am not sure this follows. Like, maybe you’re missing a source of variability (it could look like a duck, smell like a duck, move like a duck, and then croak like a frog, and then I’m just confused.) Some axes I’d expect to affect this: prey vs predator mammals (I’d expect prey animals to be more “flighty” and “twitchy” ), size of the mammal (if the brain releases some amount of serotonin for a good event, it would be surprising if this scaled in such a way that an elephant and a mouse felt similarly), how social animals are, how rapid the metabolism is (it would really surprise me if I had a similar intensity of experience as a sloth).
I nominate sloths as a possible example, because it seems like they are in what in other mammals would correspond to a permanent state of torpor.