Perhaps this is just a further sign of my insane perversity, but I don't see why it's morally or practically important to insist that some specific animal has something like the human experience of empathy. In my view, the data are far from compelling, for all the reasons I've outlined in this thread. Why is it so bad to be agnostic about this? You're responding like I'm coming up with clever justifications for the sexual abuse of children. This is tied up with moral beliefs in a way I don't quite understand.
Let me put it this way: what is so monstrous about saying that some particular species does not experience empathy?
Miles