Apparently animals are conscious of their behaviour and can exhibit regret. Just like us!

He (Eugene Linden) tells of a young tiger that, after tearing up all the newly planted trees at a California animal park, covered his eyes with his paws when the zoo-keeper arrived. And there were the female chimpanzees at the Tulsa Zoo that took advantage of a renovation project to steal the painters’ supplies, don gloves and paint their babies solid white. When confronted by their furious keeper, the mothers scurried away, then returned with peace offerings and paint-free babies.

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Looks like there may be a case to be made for humans being wired to regret. Just like the animals!

Thanks to Jack for the link.

Thankfully we humans do not require shows of regret in order to express remorse. And it is a sad sad world that sometimes DOES require a show of regret...