Animal Passions and Beastly Virtues: Reflections on Redecorating Nature

by Marc Bekoff, Jane Goodall (Foreword by)

Overview

What is it really like to be a dog? Do animals experience emotions like pleasure, joy, and grief? Marc Bekoff's work draws world-wide attention for its originality and its probing into what animals think about and know as well as what they feel, what physical and mental skills they use to live successfully within their social community. Bekoff's work, whether addressed to scientists or the general public, demonstrates that investigations into animal thought, emotions, self-awareness, behavioral ecology, and conservation biology can be compassionate as well as scientifically rigorous.

In Animal Passions and Beastly Virtues, Bekoff brings together essays on his own ground-breaking research and on what scientists know about the remarkable range and flexibility of animal behavior. His fascinating and often amusing observations of dogs, wolves, coyotes, prairie dogs, elephants, and other animals playing, leaving and detecting scent-marks ("yellow snow"), solving problems, and forming friendships challenge the idea that science and the ethical treatment of animals are incompatible.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781592133482
Publisher:	Temple University Press
Publication date:	12/28/2005
Series:	Animals Culture And Society Series
Pages:	320
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Marc Bekoff is professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has published more than thirty books, is a former Guggenheim Fellow, and was awarded the Exemplar Award from the Animal Behavior Society for long-term significant contributions to the field of animal behavior.

Table of Contents

	Foreword	ix
	Introduction: What Does It Feel Like to Be a Fox?	1
I	Emotions, Cognition, and Animal Selves: "Wow! That's Me!"	23
1	Beastly Passions	35
2	Cognitive Ethology: The Comparative Study of Animal Minds	40
3	On Aims and Methods of Cognitive Ethology	50
4	Reflections on Animal Selves	66
II	The Social Behavior of Dogs and Coyotes	77
5	The Social Ecology of Coyotes	86
6	Population and Social Biology of Free-Ranging Domestic Dogs, Canis familiaris	99
7	Ground Scratching by Male Domestic Dogs: A Composite Signal?	112
8	Observations of Scent-Marking and Discriminating Self from Others by a Domestic Dog (Canis familiaris): Tales of Displaced Yellow Snow	116
III	Social Play, Social Development, and Social Communication: Cooperation, Fairness, and Wild Justice	123
9	Social Communication in Canids: Evidence for the Evolution of a Stereotyped Mammalian Display	134
10	Virtuous Nature	140
11	Wild Justice, Cooperation, and Fair Play: Minding Manners, Being Nice, and Feeling Good	144
IV	Human Dimensions: Human-Animal Interactions	177
12	Human (Anthropogenic) Effects on Animal Behavior	182
13	Translocation Effects on the Behavior of Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus)	192
14	Interactions Among Dogs, People, and the Environment in Boulder, Colorado: A Case Study	197
15	Behavioral Interactions and Conflict Among Domestic Dogs, Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs, and People in Boulder, Colorado	209
V	Ethics, Compassion, Conservation, and Activism: Redecorating Nature	219
16	The Importance of Ethics in Conservation Biology: Let's Be Ethicists Not Ostriches	225
17	Ethics and the Study of Carnivores: Doing Science While Respecting Animals	232
	Afterword: Minding Animals, Minding Earth-Old Brains in New Bottlenecks	263
	References	277
	Index	291

What People are Saying About This

Jane Goodall

Animal Passions and Beastly Virtues is a book for scientists and non-scientists alike. The writing is clear so that even complex subjects can be readily understood by the general public. Marc has the courage of his convictions and is an excellent spokesman for animals. He has learned so much from watching animals and empathizing with them, and by publishing this collection of essays, he hopes to share this knowledge with as many people as possible. I will share Animal Passions and Beastly Virtues with colleagues and friends around the world.

Editorial Reviews

Animal behaviorist, ecologist and ethicist Bekoff (Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior) presents a lengthy compilation of scientific papers and articles from journals like Scientific American on a range of subjects that, remarkably, coheres into a fascinating "big-picture view of animals, culture, and society." Bekoff's writings focus primarily on the science of cognitive ethology, on what animals think, feel and know-and most of the articles study the behavior of dogs; one of the most interesting pieces looks at the sounds and smells that can trigger primary emotions, such as innate fear, in canines. Overall, this collection serves as an excellent summation of the major theme of Bekoff's many books: "with hard work, we can make Earth a better place for all beings," primarily because of engaging introductory essays that connect five sections on animal emotions, social behaviors and ethics. These essays not only explain his concern for how humans "redecorate" nature by using animals for their own purposes but also achieve his goal of appealing to academic and popular audiences though his "musings" on science, social responsibility and "who we are in the grand scheme of things." (Dec.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

In this collection of essays, Bekoff (ecology & evolutionary biology, Univ. of Colorado, Boulder; Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior) addresses various aspects of animal behavior (ethology) and the related treatment of animals. The subtitle reflects the intention of the work: to show that any interference with ecosystems or animal species ("redecorating") has undesirable effects on the world. Bekoff attempts to reconcile scientific studies of animals with the animal-rights philosophy of not treating animals as things. This is a unique concept and a difficult task, since such studies have traditionally involved interference in nature. Although primatologist Jane Goodall has written a foreword, the appeal of this book to popular audiences will be limited; about half of the essays come from advanced journals, and the rest are written at a college level. Recommended for academic libraries where there is an interest in ethology and animal rights.-John Kistler, Houston, PA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Library Journal

"Serves as an excellent summation of the major theme of Bekoff's many books....These essays not only explain his concern for how humans 'redecorate' nature by using animals for their own purposes but also achieve his goal of appealing to academic and popular audiences though his 'musings' on science, social responsibility and 'who we are in the grand scheme of things.'" —Publishers Weekly

From the Publisher