“But researchers caution against attributing malicious intent to animals.” Researcher should maybe spend more time with animals and less with paper. Animals can communicate effectively with humans if they want, I’ve had cows ask me to fix the waterer, and absolutely seen animals with malicious intent. You can see horses planning how they’re gonna attack if you know how to look. They lie and look for excuses, I’ve never seen a horse scared of a flushed rabbit when no one is on their back, but mounted it’s the scariest thing ever, and this is also proportionate to exactly who is on their back and whether or not they seem competent.