The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy - and Why They Matter

Features

• Cover Type: Hard Cover with 256 pages
• Published by: New World Library February 9, 2007
• Written in: English
• ISBN 10 Number: 1577315022
• ISBN 13 Number: 978-1577315025
• Book Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1 inches
• Weighs: 1 pounds

Product Review


If the onus on Emotional Lives of Animals author Marc Bekoff was simply to prove that nonhuman creatures exhibit Charles Darwin's six universal emotions (anger, happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, and surprise), then his book would be very brief. As anyone who has ever had a pet dog, cat, rabbit, or even bird can attest, animals not only possess such emotions but broadcast them clearly and often. Bekoff's goal, however, is much grander: To show that wild and domestic species have a kaleidoscopic range of feelings, from embarrassment to awe, and that we dismiss them not only at their peril but our own. And if an endorsement squib by PETA president Ingrid Newkirk and Foreword by renowned animal scientist Jane Goodall doesn't give it away, then readers quickly learn that Bekoff also has an agenda: showing that using animals for scientific experiments, amusement, food, and the like is reprehensible and unconscionable. Not that The Emotional Lives of Animals is a polemic. By turns funny, anecdotal, and deeply researched, the book is all the more persuasive because it's so compelling. As Bekoff (professor emeritus of biology at the University of Colorado) points out, "It's terrible biology to argue against the existence of animal emotions. Scientific research in evolutionary biology, cognitive ethology, and social neuroscience supports the view that numerous and diverse animals have rich and deep emotional lives. Emotions have evolved as adaptations in numerous species, and they serve as a social glue to bond animals with one another." And with us, as Bekoff argues in this absorbing and important book. -- Kim Hughes --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From Publishers Weekly
Any dog owner knows that her own pet has feelings, but what evidence exists beyond the anecdotal, and what does this evidence teach us? Bekoff, professor emeritus of biology at the University of Colorado, pores through decades of animal research-behavioral, neurochemical, psychological and environmental-to answer that question, compelling readers to accept both the existence and significance of animal emotions. Seated in the most primitive structures of the brain (pleasure receptors, for example, are biologically correlative in all mammals), emotions have a long evolutionary history. Indeed, as vertebrates became more complex, they developed ever more complex emotional and social lives, "setting rules" that permit group living-a far better survival strategy than going solo. Along the way, Bekoff forces the reader to re-examine the nature of human beings; our species could not have persevered through the past 100,000 years without the evolution of strong and cohesive social relationships cemented with emotions, a conclusion contrary to contemporary pop sociology notions that prioritize individualism and competition. He also explores, painfully but honestly, the abuse animals regularly withstand in factory farms, research centers and elsewhere, and calls on fellow scientists to practice their discipline with "heart." Demonstrating the far-reaching implications for readers' relationships with any number of living beings, Bekoff's book is profound, thought-provoking and even touching.
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Reader Reviews
This is an excellent book, and I don't disagree with anything he says. However, he makes much of his case based on anecdotal evidence. He does cite scientific studies, but these are peripheral to the stories. I don't really mind this because I agreed with him before I ever started reading the book, and I enjoyed the stories. If he's looking to persuade people, which I think he should, he might have gone a little heavier on the science and a little lighter on the stories. Regardless of whether he has proven his case about the emotions of animals, his book gives us one pivotal concept we can rely on: if we don't know for sure, the default assumption should be that animals do have emotions until proven otherwise. To paraphrase: If I assume animals feel pain and pleasure and love, and act accordingly, and then it turns out my assumption was wrong, I will have done no harm. However, if I assume that animals don't have feelings, and then it turns out I was wrong, I may have caused immeasurable damage.