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What philosophy and, more recently, science have understood but the law has not,” Professor Nussbaum writes, “is that elephants are sentient beings who can feel emotion, foster relationships, create communities, and form a conception of the self … This Court has the opportunity to create legal precedent that provides these living creatures the legal right to thrive and survive in ways that coincide with their specific capabilities, and prevent not only the infliction of physical pain, but emotional and psychological injury as well.”