This morning I watched a monkey named Bubba viciously attack fellow unit member Meena. She screamed in fear and fled to the bulk of her erstwhile lover, who just cowered, pretending to shield her. Meena did sink her teeth into Bubba, but she came off second best, with blood dripping from her arm. Nobody in the unit had come to her aid. I noted the events on my palmtop, a seemingly cool, detached observer. And I wished Bubba a slow, painful death by leopard mauling.

We are trained never to anthropomorphize when interpreting animals' behaviour. We are trained to be unbiased and unemotional in our reporting. I agree with this. But I wonder, are we hiding one of our human strengths? I throw myself into my work physically, mentally and emotionally. I think it's the emotional investment that makes me a meticulous scientist; after all, it is my fondness for the animals that leads me to search for hours to find them. And I find myself driven to scrutinize the subtle and overt actions of my study subjects.

Many biologists know their subjects as individuals, not just numbers on a data sheet. This enhances their ability to understand and interpret those subjects' interactions. As a young scientist I get the impression that we have to hide this. I don't want to plead for 'emotional' reporting in peer-reviewed journals. But I do want to acknowledge that we can be both emotionally involved and objective. And this is a good thing.