Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?
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Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?
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Narrated by:
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Sean Runnette
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By:
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Frans de Waal
About this listen
From world-renowned biologist and primatologist Frans de Waal comes this groundbreaking work on animal intelligence destined to become a classic.
What separates your mind from an animal's? Maybe you think it's your ability to design tools, your sense of self, or your grasp of past and future - all traits that have helped us define ourselves as the planet's preeminent species. But in recent decades, these claims have been eroded - or even disproved outright - by a revolution in the study of animal cognition. Take the way octopuses use coconut shells as tools; elephants that classify humans by age, gender, and language; or Ayumu, the young male chimpanzee at Kyoto University whose flash memory puts that of humans to shame.
Based on research involving crows, dolphins, parrots, sheep, wasps, bats, whales, and of course chimpanzees and bonobos, Frans de Waal explores both the scope and the depth of animal intelligence. He offers a firsthand account of how science has stood traditional behaviorism on its head by revealing how smart animals really are - and how we've underestimated their abilities for too long. People often assume a cognitive ladder from lower to higher forms, with our own intelligence at the top. But what if it is more like a bush, with cognition taking different, often incomparable forms? Would you presume yourself dumber than a squirrel because you're less adept at recalling the locations of hundreds of buried acorns? Or would you judge your perception of your surroundings as more sophisticated than that of an echolocating bat?
De Waal reviews the rise and fall of the mechanistic view of animals and opens our minds to the idea that animal minds are far more intricate and complex than we have assumed. De Waal's landmark work will convince you to rethink everything you thought you knew about animal - and human - intelligence.
©2016 Frans de Waal (P)2016 Blackstone Audio, Inc.Listeners also enjoyed...
What listeners say about Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- katia
- 16-05-24
Beautiful, insightful, enlightening and heartbreaking.
For a compassionate world where all animals (human or otherwise) are not exploited for their flesh, skins, secretions, for entertainment, this book should be mandatory reading in all schools.
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- MR A PATTERSON
- 25-03-25
Methodology matters!
A fascinating book. Having a background in the area, the most interesting part, for me, is just how thoughtful one needs to be when considering methodology in animal studies. De Waal covers many considerations that need to be taken on board, and instances of when this hasn’t been the case.
What this should also highlight is the importance of free speech in science. It’s clear here how easy it would be for either extreme perspective on animal cognition to design an experiment that will produce a desired result. Even without intentional bias. Allowing opposing voices to scrutinise each other helps to guard against an echo chamber. As he says, opposing voices have kept him on his toes, leading him to devise increasingly more clever experiments. The increasing trend towards shutting down opposition for political reasons (e.g., in many areas concerning the impact of biology on behaviour in humans), is simply not good for science.
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- JTT
- 16-09-18
very smart intelligent ang ground breaking
this books puts into academical framework what most animal lovers already know: Animals are smart - and manage to surprise us repeatedly.
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2 people found this helpful
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- mr
- 20-12-22
Thought enhancing
Brilliant and very thought provoking , my perspective and joy of the world has been enhanced..thanks..
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
- Pauline Giles
- 07-02-20
Sorry but even this I an,t blind
I you help these blind good dogs for blind and see1 this is about intelligence
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- Anonymous User
- 12-05-22
Interesting Topic
I had long thought just how little we understand about our pets. When I seen this book I knew I had to read it, I was not disappointed, very interesting read.
This author had worked with apes for a long time and knew them inside out, to which he explains their actions very well.
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- Caroline Espley-Jones
- 13-05-23
Essential reading
Excellent summary of what we currently understand about this. Full of extraordinary insights and wisdom.
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- Richard Bundy
- 07-04-22
Enlightening
Nicely read and presented.
It makes me think that we as scientists and observers question the intelligence of animals but do not question our intelligence in observation. Probably justifying the fact and hiding our unconscious guilt that we kill and eat animals by the billions daily and treat these fellow creatures atrociously.
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- John
- 17-11-22
Fascinating
Absolutely superb and utterly fascinating, even as a complete layman.
If you're interested in the science of the mind and the animal kingdom as a whole, this is well worth your time.
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- Lee
- 10-11-22
Enjoyable and interesting
A really interesting book and a fascinating insight into animal cognition and how we as humans relate to this (sometimes very poorly). Narration was easy to listen to. My only comment would be that the author is very primate-biased due to his background, which is a form of expanded human-centric approaches. But it's certainly a good introduction to the subject.
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