Animal Passions and Beastly Virtues: Reflections on Redecorating Nature

Marc Bekoff

Nov 2005 · Temple University Press

About this ebook

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.

About the author

Marc Bekoff is Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder. He has published numerous books including The Smile of a Dolphin, Minding Animals, The Ten Trusts (with Jane Goodall), and the Encyclopedia of Animal Behavior. His homepage is http://literati.net/Bekoff. He and Jane Goodall co-founded Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (www.ethologicalethics.org). In 2005 Marc was presented with The Bank One Faculty Community Service Award for the work he has done with children, senior citizens, and prisoners.