Do animals have free Will?

[The Grand Nudger]

Yes Tack, animals make conscious decisions. That's how ambush predators hold off spooking an animal, or let animals pass by until one gets close enough. They weigh the situation, and make a decision to ambush or not. I only use that as an extreme example of how calculating animals can be, and how much their lives hinge on the choices they make. Other examples that might be helpful would be animals and communication, where choices are made as to what they communicate, how they socialize and with whom....you're not seriously on the fence about whether or not there's a moment in the day when an animal is sitting there wondering what it wants to do next are you? Do you have pets? Animals are not automatons (unless we're willing to call all animals...including ourselves...automatons). Take a look down the branches of your own taxonomy Tack, you are Animalia....

Sigh, sigh, sigh....I would be incredibly surprised if you could come up with parameters for freewill that excluded every animal except human animals without explicitly saying "only human beings have free will because we say so".