Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed: The Fascinating Science of Animal Intelligence, Emotions, Friendship, and Conservation

by Marc Bekoff

Overview

In 2009, Marc Bekoff was asked to write on animal emotions for Psychology Today. Some 500 popular, jargon-free essays later, the field of anthrozoology — the study of human-animal relationships — has grown exponentially, as have scientific data showing how smart and emotional nonhuman animals are. Here Bekoff offers selected essays that showcase the fascinating cognitive abilities of other animals as well as their empathy, compassion, grief, humor, joy, and love. Humpback whales protect gray whales from orca attacks, combat dogs and other animals suffer from PTSD, and chickens, rats, and mice display empathy. This collection is both an updated sequel to Bekoff ’s popular book The Emotional Lives of Animals and a call to begin the important work of “rewilding” ourselves and changing the way we treat other animals.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608682195
Publisher:	New World Library
Publication date:	11/05/2013
Pages:	400
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.40(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Marc Bekoff is professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has worked alongside leading writers and activists including Jane Goodall, Peter Singer, and PETA cofounder Ingrid Newkirk. He lives in Boulder, CO.

Table of Contents

Preface: Sharing and Celebrating the Fascinating Lives of Other Animals xiii

Part 1 Animals and Us: Reflections on Our Challenging, Frustrating, Confusing, and Deep Interrelationships with Other Animals 1

What in the World Do My Essays Have to Do with Psychology? 3

Animals in Our Brain: Mickey Mouse, Teddy Bears, and "Cuteness" 7

Conservation Psychology and Animal and Human Well-Being: Scientists Must Pay Attention to the Social Sciences 9

Pets Are Good for Us: Where Science and Common Sense Meet 12

Children and Animals: Teach the Children Well 14

Nature-Deficit Disorder Redux: Kids Need to Get Off Their Butts 17

Animals and Inmates: Science Behind Bars 19

Animal Cruelty and Antisocial Behavior: A Very Strong Link 21

Dehumanization and Animal-Human Similarity 23

Animals Can Be Ambassadors for Forgiveness, Generosity, Peace, Trust, and Hope 25

Letting a Friend Go: We Usually Know When It's Time to Say Good-bye 30

Part 2 Against Speciesism: Why All Individuals Are Unique and Special 33

Individual Animals Count: Speciesism Doesn't Work 35

Animal Emotions, Animal Sentience, Animal Welfare, and Animal Rights 38

Animal Minds and the Foible of Human Exceptionalism 42

Animals Don't Laugh, Think, Get Depressed, or Love, Declares a Psychiatrist 45

What Makes Us Uniquely Human? 49

Part 3 Media and the (Mis)representation of Animals 53

Animals in Media: Righting the Wrongs 55

Are Great Apes "Ultraviolent"? 58

Chimpanzees and Meerkats: The Importance of Accurate Media 60

The National Museum of Animals & Society 62

Animals in Art: Nonhumans Benefit from Responsible Representation 65

Part 4 Why Dogs Hump: Or, What We Can Learn from Our Special Friends 69

Dog Trust: Some Lessons from Our Companions 71

My Dog always Eats First: Homeless People and Their Animals 74

Chancer and Iyal: A Dog, His Boy, and His Dog 76

Going to the Dogs Is a Good Idea: It's Not a Dog-Eat-Dog World 79

Wild Dogs in Captivity Are Still Wild Dogs 83

Can Dogs Experience Guilt, Pride, and Shame: Why Not? 86

Hidden Tales of Yellow Snow: What a Dog's Nose Knows - Making Sense of Scents 88

I'll Have What She's Having: Dogs Do It, Too 90

Dogs Know What Others Know: Some New and Exciting Findings about Our Best Friends 91

Stealth Dogs Steal Food in the Dark and Snatch It Quietly 93

Dogs: Looking at the Way We Look at Our Best Friends 95

Why Dogs Hump 97

Social Dominance Is Not a Myth: Wolves, Dogs, and Other Animals 101

Did Cesar Millan Have to Hang the Husky? 104

Part 5 Consciousness, Sentience, and Cognition: A Potpourri of Current Research on Flies, Fish, and Other Animals 107

Animal Consciousness and Science Matter 111

Scientists Finally Conclude Nonhuman Animals Are Conscious Beings 116

Do Animals Know Who They Are? 119

Do Dogs Really Feel Pain and Are They Really Conscious? 122

Age Before Beauty: Older Elephant Matriarchs Know What's Best 126

What Do We Learn from a Tool-Making Genius Bonobo and Copy-Cat Orcas? 127

Spider Builds Complex Lifelike Replica Decoys Outside Web 131

Flies on Booze and Apes on Apps 133

Bold Fish and Brilliant Lizards 135

Tool Use by a Dingo and a Dog 137

Chimpanzees in the Crossfire: Are They Cleverer Than Us? 139

Apes Say "No" with a Head Shake, Animals Are Lefties and Righties, and Getting Out in Nature Is Good. Duh! 141

Do Animals Have Spiritual Experiences? Yes, They Do 143

Part 6 The Emotional Lives of Animals: The Ever-Expanding Circle of Sentience Includes Depressed Bees and Empathic Chickens 147

Emotional Honeybees and Brainy Jellyfish 149

The Birds and the Bees and Their Brains: Size Doesn't Matter 151

Crabs and Fish Feel Pain: Expanding the Circle-of-Sentience Club 156

The Emotional Lives of Reptiles: Stress and Welfare 158

Gorilla Joy and Chimpanzee Grief Without a Doubt 160

Gorillas Dismantle Poacher's Traps: Compassionate Conservation of the Gorilla-Kind 162

Do Wild Animals Suffer from PTSD and Other Psychological Disorders? 164

Did a Female Burro Commit Suicide? 168

Grieving Animals: Saying Good-bye to Friends and Family 170

A Fox, a Cougar, and a Funeral 174

Humpback Whales Protect a Gray Whale from Killer Whales 176

Empathic Chickens and Cooperative Elephants: Emotional Intelligence Expands Its Range Again 178

Empathic Rats and Ravishing Ravens So Bonobos: Going Out of Their Way to Help Others 183

Do "Smarter" Dogs Really Suffer More Than "Dumber" Mice? 186

Part 7 Wild Justice and Moral Intelligence: Don't Blame Other Animals for Our Destructive Ways 193

Wild Justice and Moral Intelligence in Animals 195

"What Were Wars?" Don't Blame Other Animals for Human Violence 199

Human-Like Violence Is Extremely Rare in Other Animals 201

The Moral Lives of Animals: What Did Herman Melville Have to Say about Animals? 203

Give Peace a Chance: We Do Not Have to Go to War 207

Part 8 The Lives of Captive Creatures: Why Are They Even There? 211

Zoos and Aquariums Do Not Accomplish What They Claim They Do 213

"Faux" Animals in Cages Deserve Much Better 215

"Zoothanasia" Is Not Euthanasia: Words Matter 218

Elephants in LA Zoo Aren't Happy or Content, Says Judge 221

Deaths at Sea World: Animals Are Dying to Entertain in This SeaJail 223

Tilly's Willy: In the Name of Science? 225

Rewilding Animals: Going Home at Last 227

Rewilding Dolphins: Good News for Tom and Misha 229

Whipping Horses Doesn't Work 230

Rise of the Planet of the Apes Shows That Real Primates No Longer Need to Be Used in Movies 232

Buddy the Chimpanzee Killed in Nevada Because He Wasn't Really a Pet 233

Part 9 Who We Eat Is a Moral Question 237

Animals' Lives Matter: Sentience and Feelings Count 239

Who We Eat Is a Moral Question: Vegans Have Nothing to Defend 242

Dead Cow Walking 245

My Beef With Temple Grandin: Seemingly Humane Isn't Enough 248

Going "Cold Tofu" to End Factory Farming 252

Brain Scans Show Vegetarians and Vegans Are More Empathic Than Omnivores 255

Killing Other Animals for Food Does Not Make Us Human 256

Babe, Lettuce, and Tomato: Dead Pig Walking 258

Is Eating Dogs Different from Eating Cows and Pigs? 262

Vegans and Oysters: If You Eat Oysters, You're Not a Vegan, So Why the Question? 163

Part 10 Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why: Redecorating Nature, Peaceful Coexistence, and Compassionate Conservation 265

Close Encounters of a Lion Kind: Meeting Cougars, Foxes, Bears… and Bear Poop 267

Being "Mad about Wildlife" and Redecorating Nature 271

Animals and Cars: One Million Animals Are Killed on Our Roads Every Day 275

Should We Kill Animals Who Presumably Attack Humans? 280

Murder, Inc.: Wildlife Services Brutally Kills Millions of Animals with Your Money 283

Recreational Hunting: Would You Kill Your Dog for Fun? 286

Are Fluffy Pandas Worth Saving or Should We Let Them Go? 289

Using Hamsters to Save Ferrets: The Need for Compassionate Conservation 292

Bill and Lou: Who Lives, Who Dies, and Why 298

Saving Sentience: Homeless Animals Need All the Help They Can Get 301

Ignoring Nature No More: Compassionate Conservation at Work 303

Part 11 Rewilding Our Hearts: The Importance of Kindness, Empathy, and Compassion for All Beings 307

Twelve Millennial Mantras (with Jane Goodall): Hope Abounds 309

Compassion Begets Compassion 314

Old Brains, New Bottlenecks, and Animals: Solastalgia and Our Relationship with Other Beings 317

Animal Losses Are Rampant, but Conservation Efforts Work 320

Rewilding Our Hearts: Maintaining Hope and Faith in Trying Times 322

Endnotes 329

Bibliography 357

Index 363

About the Author 381

Editorial Reviews

“Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed (as the title implies) is a top scientist’s brilliantly eccentric and eclectic look at what we know about animal intelligence, emotions, and behavior. The scope is encyclopedic, the subject inspired, the style personal, and the tone impassioned. Read this book for pleasure and inspiration; keep it for information.”
— Dale Peterson, author of Giraffe Reflections, The Moral Lives of Animals, and Jane Goodall: The Woman Who Redefined Man

“A unique, witty, and thoroughly researched collection of essays, Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed is an entertaining and informative read for the general public and experts alike. Marc Bekoff’s breadth of knowledge about animal behavior is staggering. Bravo to Bekoff for making it so enjoyable to learn about the cognitive, emotional, and moral lives of the animals with whom we share our homes and our magnificent planet.”
— Brian Hare, PhD, and Vanessa Woods, New York Times bestselling authors of The Genius of Dogs

“A thoughtful and illuminating collection of essays about the animal mind — certain to provoke discussion about our relationship with our fellow animals.”
— Virginia Morell, author of Animal Wise: How We Know Animals Think and Feel

“Marc Bekoff’s wide-ranging books are unfailingly scholarly, entertaining, insightful, and educational.”
— Ingrid E. Newkirk, president of PETA

“Dr. Marc Bekoff has, in his characteristically brilliant, accessible, eclectic, and compassionate style, rendered unequivocally clear nothing less than an animal protection manifesto that is likely to resonate for years.”
— Michael Charles Tobias, PhD, president of the Dancing Star Foundation

From the Publisher