A seminal exploration of animal emotion, sentience, and cognition, revised and expanded to incorporate a surge of new science When award-winning scientist Marc Bekoff penned the first edition of this book in 2007, he predicted that over time our understanding of animal cognition and emotion would grow “richer, more accurate, and possibly different.” Since then, not only has the field seen an explosion of new and startling research, but the popular interest in the subject has grown as well, spawning countless podcasts, articles, and bestselling books. Bekoff skillfully blends extraordinary stories of animal joy, empathy, grief, embarrassment, anger, and love with the latest scientific research confirming the existence of emotions that common sense and experience have long implied. Filled with light humor and compassion, The Emotional Lives of Animals is a clarion call for reassessing both how we view and how we treat animals.
In 2008, Bill Crain, a professor of psychology at The City College of New York, and his wife Ellen, a pediatrician, opened Safe Haven Farm Sanctuary in Poughquag, New York. The sanctuary provides a permanent home to over 70 animals rescued from slaughter and abusive situations, including goats, sheep, chickens, turkeys, ducks, partridges, and a mini-horse. It also has afforded Bill a tremendous opportunity to observe animals in all manner of emotional states and how their behavior casts light on the emotions of human children. In The Emotional Lives of Animals and Children, Crain honors the work of John Bowlby a psychoanalyst who began his major writings in the 1950s. Bowlby drew on biologists’ observations of animals to provide a compelling account of children’s attachment to their caretakers. “Today, the study of attachment is extremely popular,” Crain writes, but “one would hardly know that the initial inspiration came from observations of non-human animals. Moreover, there has been little effort to extend Bowlby’s work – to see how the study of animals illuminates other aspects of child development.” Crain suggests that the reluctance to follow Bowlby’s lead reflects the Western worldview that considers humans as different from and superior to other species. To think about children in the same category as animals seems to demean children. But Crain discovered that the farm animals’ emotional behaviors can help us understand those of human children. The Emotional Lives of Animals and Children is divided into two parts. Part one discusses six emotional behaviors that are shared by animals and children: fear, play, freedom, care, spirituality, and resilience. Part two addresses the broader social theme of our Western culture’s disparagement of animals. Initially, children do not set themselves apart from nature, but experience it with an instinctive empathy. However, they are eventually taught by our society to detach themselves and to devalue animals. Crain writes, “As people attempt to move beyond society’s dominant views of animals, they can also draw on a neglected idea that goes back to ancient times. This is the view that there is a special wisdom in the child’s ways of knowing. This view is found in the ancient Chinese Taoist statement, ‘wise souls are children.’” About Safe Haven Farm Sanctuary Safe Haven Farm Sanctuary is located in Poughquag, New York, about an hour and a half outside of New York City. Its focus is on the rescue of abused and neglected farm animals. In doing so, it hopes to raise awareness of the plight of animals raised for food and the benefits of a vegan diet for animals, human health, and the environment. Wherever possible, the sanctuary tries to implement environmentally sound practices such as solar heating and the use of reclaimed wood.
This national bestseller exploring the complex emotional lives of animals was hailed as "a masterpiece" by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas and as "marvelous" by Jane Goodall. The popularity of When Elephants Weep has swept the nation, as author Jeffrey Masson appeared on Dateline NBC, Good Morning America, and was profiled in People for his ground-breaking and fascinating study. Not since Darwin's The Expression of Emotions in Man and Animals has a book so thoroughly and effectively explored the full range of emotions that exist throughout the animal kingdom. From dancing squirrels to bashful gorillas to spiteful killer whales, Masson and coauthor Susan McCarthy bring forth fascinating anecdotes and illuminating insights that offer powerful proof of the existence of animal emotion. Chapters on love, joy, anger, fear, shame, compassion, and loneliness are framed by a provocative re-evaluation of how we treat animals, from hunting and eating them to scientific experimentation. Forming a complete and compelling picture of the inner lives of animals, When Elephants Weep assures that we will never look at animals in the same way again.
This is the first book to examine children's many connections to animals and to explore their developmental significance. Gail Melson looks not only at the therapeutic power of pet-owning for children with emotional or physical handicaps, but also the ways in which zoo and farm animals, and even certain television characters, become confidants or teachers for children--and sometimes, tragically, their victims.
A seminal exploration of animal emotion, sentience, and cognition, revised and expanded to incorporate a surge of new science When award-winning scientist Marc Bekoff penned the first edition of this book in 2007, he predicted that over time our understanding of animal cognition and emotion would grow “richer, more accurate, and possibly different.” Since then, not only has the field seen an explosion of new and startling research, but the popular interest in the subject has grown as well, spawning countless podcasts, articles, and bestselling books. Bekoff skillfully blends extraordinary stories of animal joy, empathy, grief, embarrassment, anger, and love with the latest scientific research confirming the existence of emotions that common sense and experience have long implied. Filled with light humor and compassion, The Emotional Lives of Animalsis a clarion call for reassessing both how we view and how we treat animals.
Masterworks of contemporary art teach kids about feelings and how they can be expressed in art. The bold work of contemporary artists, including Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Takashi Murakami, and Alex Katz is totally accessible to small children, and in this gorgeous, ground-breaking picture book, these works of art speak to children about emotions. Children will recognize love, surprise, hurt, and other powerful feelings in these images, which accompany a fun-to-read aloud narrative with a silly twist at the end that is sure to delight younger readers. Parents can enjoy the art as well as the opportunity to engage their children in a light-hearted discussion of feelings and how they affect us-the beginnings of emotional intelligence. Learn more at NoAnimalsOnlyFeelings.com.
A New York Times Bestseller and winner of the PEN / E. O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award "Game-changing." —Sy Montgomery, New York Times Book Review Mama’s Last Hug is a fascinating exploration of the rich emotional lives of animals, beginning with Mama, a chimpanzee matriarch who formed a deep bond with biologist Jan van Hooff. Her story and others like it—from dogs “adopting” the injuries of their companions, to rats helping fellow rats in distress, to elephants revisiting the bones of their loved ones—show that humans are not the only species with the capacity for love, hate, fear, shame, guilt, joy, disgust, and empathy. Frans de Waal opens our hearts and minds to the many ways in which humans and other animals are connected.
Explores the frontiers of research on animal cognition and emotion, offering a surprising examination into the hearts and minds of wild and domesticated animals.
"For the first time, a historian of science draws evidence from across the world to show how humans and other animals are astonishingly similar when it comes to their feelings and the ways in which they lose their minds"--
Nonhuman animals have many of the same feelings we do. They get hurt, they suffer, they are happy, and they take care of each other. Marc Bekoff, a renowned biologist specializing in animal minds and emotions, guides readers from high school age up—including older adults who want a basic introduction to the topic—in looking at scientific research, philosophical ideas, and humane values that argue for the ethical and compassionate treatment of animals. Citing the latest scientific studies and tackling controversies with conviction, he zeroes in on the important questions, inviting reader participation with "thought experiments" and ideas for action. Among the questions considered: • Are some species more valuable or more important than others? • Do some animals feel pain and suffering and not others? • Do animals feel emotions? • Should endangered animals be reintroduced to places where they originally lived? • Should animals be kept in captivity? • Are there alternatives to using animals for food, clothing, cosmetic testing, and dissection in the science classroom? • What can we learn by imagining what it feels like to be a dog or a cat or a mouse or an ant? • What can we do to make a difference in animals’ quality of life? Bekoff urges us not only to understand and protect animals—especially those whose help we want for our research and other human needs—but to love and respect them as our fellow beings on this planet that we all want to share in peace.
