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The Inner Lives Of Animals
Palgrave Macmillan
March 2010
On Sale: March 16, 2010
256 pages ISBN: 0230613624 EAN: 9780230613621 Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
For centuries we believed that humans were the only ones
that mattered. The idea that animals had feelings was either
dismissed or considered heresy. Today, that's all changing.
New scientific studies of animal behavior reveal
perceptions, intelligences, awareness and social skills that
would have been deemed fantasy a generation ago. The
implications make our troubled relationship to animals one
of the most pressing moral issues of our time. Jonathan Balcombe, animal behaviorist and author of the
critically acclaimed Pleasurable Kingdom, draws on the
latest research, observational studies and personal
anecdotes to reveal the full gamut of animal experience'from
emotions, to problem solving, to moral judgment. Balcombe
challenges the widely held idea that nature is red in tooth
and claw, highlighting animal traits we have disregarded
until now: their nuanced understanding of social dynamics,
their consideration for others, and their strong tendency to
avoid violent conflict. Did you know that dogs recognize unfairness and that rats
practice random acts of kindness? Did you know that chimpanzees can trounce humans in
short-term memory games? Or that fishes distinguish good guys from cheaters, and that
birds are susceptible to mood swings such as depression and
optimism? With vivid stories and entertaining anecdotes, Balcombe
gives the human pedestal a strong shake while opening the
door into the inner lives of the animals themselves.
Comments
1 comment posted.
Re: Second Nature
Fascinating. I will have to get a copy of Second Nature. (Susan Mahaffey 11:01am March 16, 2010)
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