Based on award-winning scientist Marc Bekoff's years
of experience studying patterns of social communication in a wide
range of species, this important book shows that numerous animals
have rich emotional lives. Animal emotions not only teach us about
love, empathy, and compassion, argues Bekoff, but they require us
to radically rethink our current relationship of domination and abuse
of animals.
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 with animals have long implied. Bekoff
also explores the evolution of emotions and points to new scientific
discoveries of brain structures shared by humans and animals that are
important in processing emotions. He goes on to emphasize their role
in establishing evolutionary continuity among diverse species and presents
new findings of non-invasive neurological research and detailed behavioral
studies. Filled with Bekoff's light humor and touching stories, The
Emotional Lives of Animals, is a clarion call for reassessing both
how we view animals and how we treat them.
"Marc Bekoff is the wisest
scientist I know, for he is the only expert who truly loves animals
in the way that children are able to love animals, with all his heart."
—Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author of When Elephants Weep and The Emperor's Embrace
"As a boy studying Buddhism in Tibet,
I was taught the importance of a caring attitude toward others.
Such a practice of nonviolence applies to all sentient beings -
any living thing that has a mind. Where there is a mind, there
are feelings such as pain, pleasure, and joy. No sentient beings
want pain; instead, all want happiness. Since we all share these
feelings at some basic level, as rational human beings we have
an obligation to contribute in whatever way we can to the happiness
of other species and try our best to relieve their fears and sufferings.
I firmly believe that the more we care for the happiness of others,
the greater our own sense of well-being becomes. Therefore, I welcome
Marc Bekoff's book The Emotional Lives of Animals."
— His
Holiness The Dalai Lama
About The Author:
Marc Bekoff is professor emeritus
of biology at the University of Colorado - Boulder and cofounder,
with Jane Goodall, of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment
of Animals (www.ethologicalethics.org). He has won many awards for
his scientific research, including a Guggenheim Fellowship, and in
2005 he was presented with The Bank One Faculty Community Service
Award for the work he has done with children, senior citizens, and
prisoners. He is the author or editor of more than two hundred articles
and numerous books, including the Encyclopedia of Animal Rights and
Animal Welfare, The Ten Trusts (with Jane Goodall), The Smile of
a Dolphin, Minding Animals, Animal Passions and Beastly Virtues,
and the Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior. Bekoff speaks throughout
the world and has appeared on numerous television programs, including
Good Morning America and Anderson Cooper 360º.
