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Learning the Language of Animals
St. Martin's Press
December 2012
On Sale: November 27, 2012
319 pages ISBN: 031261179X EAN: 9780312611798 Kindle: B00842HDDS Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction
"Slobodchikoff's ground-breaking research" (Jonathan
Balcombe) shows us that animals have much to teach us
about language Groundbreaking research has been done
teaching animals human language, but what about the other
way around? Studies have shown that lizards, squid, monkeys,
and birds are talking to each other, communicating
information about food, predators, squabbles, and petty
jealousies. These animal languages are unique and highly
adaptive. By exploring them, we come to appreciate the basis
of our own languages; understanding or even
“speaking” them allows us to get closer to the other
species who inhabit this planet with us. The implications of
animals having language are enormous. It has been one
of the last bastions separating “us” from
“them.” Slobodchikoff's studies of the
communication system of prairie dogs over twenty-five years
have attracted a considerable amount of attention from the
media, including a one-hour documentary on his work produced
by BBC and Animal Planet. In Chasing Doctor
Dolittle, he posits that the difference is one of
degree, not the vast intellectual chasm that philosophers
have talked about for millennia. Filled with meticulous
research, vivid examples and daring conclusions, this
book will challenge the reader's assumptions and open
up new possibilities of understanding our fellow creatures.
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