Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?

Reading this book was so refreshing as I am getting more and more disenchanted with science based on mechanistic views. It reminded me of my observations of a pigeon. I was working in downtown San Francisco in a complex of skyscrapers called The Embarcadero. There were large numbers of pigeons there and flocks swooped around these buildings patrolling for food. In my bldg. on the ground floor was a bakery which I passed every day. I began to notice that collected near the bakery were lots of infirm, sickly pigeons, I guessed they went there because they were likely to score donut crumbs from bakery customers. Then I began noticing that a female pigeon was there with her half grown fledged offspring. The offspring had no feet, just short stubs. She could lift off into flight with a certain amount of effort and she landed on her stomach. Then I noticed after awhile that the mother was gone but the young legless pigeon showed up there every day. Before long I was bringing this pigeon sunflower seeds and feeding her when I left the bldg. It was against the law to feed pigeons and so I had to go to different levels or spots where I was less likely to run into the law. Once this pigeon knew that I was a reliable bringer of sun flower seeds I saw her every day. I also attracted lots of other pigeon who had two legs and would muscle in, so I had to give her (I just knew she was a female pigeon) her stash in such a way that the other pigeons wouldn’t mob her and out-eat her, which meant that I encouraged the pigeon to trust me enough to come closer than the others, which she did. This was a routine for me for several months. Sometimes to avoid building guards I had to change levels. The pigeon would always find me even though downtown SF is a very busy place, with thousands of people travelling through. I would come out of my bldg. and look up and every time this no-leg pigeon would come lofting down from on high. She knew the hour I was likely to show up – 6 p.m. Then I lost my job there. Three months after I had left the job, I came to downtown SF to meet someone at my old bldg. Just in case I brought sun flower seeds not really expecting the pigeon to show up. But there she was as if I’d never gone, and I fed her the sun flower seeds. How amazing that she could recognize and remember one person out of thousands and be on the look out for me! 3 months later, I came again to meet a co-worker. I brought sun flower seeds but I never expected to see her again. Wrong! She lofted down and landed near my feet. Since that experience, I bridle whenever I hear people saying pigeons are stupid. I have since decided that everything is conscious, including the planet and the plants and every living thing on it. Brains are mechanical, consciousness is not ...

I've often ordered used books from Amazon and have never been disappointed. This used book, from Lat Sales was perfect. It arrived on time and it came wrapped in plastic, exceeding my expectations. The dust jacket, spine, hard cover, and pages were all in pristine condition and the book appeared to be brand new.This book is engaging, well-written and a quick read. The author has provided fascinating observations, examples, results of experiments, and definitions. De Wall, distinguished ethologist, professor and author, has bought a new understanding of animal intelligence and emotions to those of us who have not studied animals. It is astounding what has been learned through species appropriate evaluation, observation, and studies. I've only read the first few chapters, and am finding it difficult to put the book down. Luckily, I discovered this book by reading the Amazon reviews of other similar books. You can bet I'll be ordering more of De Wall's books!

Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? By Frans de Waal“Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?” is an insightful look at animal intelligence backed up by evidence from controlled experiments. Dutch/American biologist with a Ph.D. in zoology and ethology and author of Our Inner Ape and others, Frans de Waal, takes the reader on a journey of the sophistication of nonhuman minds. This entertaining 352-page book includes the following nine chapters: 1. Magic Wells, 2. A Tale of Two Schools, 3. Cognitive Ripples, 4. Talk to Me, 5. The Measure of all Things, 6. Social Skills, 7. Time Will Tell, 8. Of Mirrors and Jars, and 9. Evolutionary Cognition.Positives:1. Engaging and well-written book that is accessible to the masses.2. A fascinating topic in the hands of a subject matter expert, nonhuman cognition.3. Entertaining and insightful. The book is easy to follow. Professor de Waal is fair and even handed. He is careful to not oversell nonhuman cognition while providing a mixture of stories, experiments and observations to back his points. “I will pick and choose from among many discoveries, species, and scientists, so as to convey the excitement of the past twenty years.”4. Includes many sketches that complement the excellent narrative.5. Introduces and explains key new terms. “Umwelt stresses an organism’s self-centered, subjective world, which represents only a small tranche of all available worlds.”6. Does a wonderful job of explaining the most important topic of this book, animal cognition. “No wonder Griffin became an early champion of animal cognition—a term considered an oxymoron until well into the 1980s—because what else is cognition but information processing? Cognition is the mental transformation of sensory input into knowledge about the environment and the flexible application of this knowledge.” “While the term cognition refers to the process of doing this, intelligence refers more to the ability to do it successfully.”7. A look into experimental science. “The credo of experimental science remains that an absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”8. One of the recurring themes of this wonderful book is the importance of conducting well-constructed experiments. “Their earlier poor performance had had more to do with the way they were tested than with their mental powers.” “The challenge is to find tests that fit an animal’s temperament, interests, anatomy, and sensory capacities.”9. A fascinating look at the field of evolutionary cognition. “The field of evolutionary cognition requires us to consider every species in full.”10. One of the most important topics covered is the notion of continuity. “It is far more logical to assume continuity in every domain, Griffin said, echoing Charles Darwin’s well-known observation that the mental difference between humans and other animals is one of degree rather than kind.”11. Explains key differences between behaviorism and ethology. “The difference between behaviorism and ethology has always been one of human-controlled versus natural behavior. Behaviorists sought to dictate behavior by placing animals in barren environments in which they could do little else than what the experimenter wanted.”12. The book provides interesting examples that includes animals beyond de Waal’s expertise of primates. “With animals such as chimpanzees, elephants, and crows, for which we have ample evidence of complex cognition, we really do not need to start at zero every time we are struck by seemingly smart behavior.”13. Provocative questions. Do animals have culture? Find out.14. Provides evidence for animal cognition. “A century ago Wolfgang Köhler set the stage for animal cognition research by demonstrating that apes can solve problems in their heads by means of a flash of insight, before enacting the solution.” “Apes do not just search for tools for specific occasions; they actually fabricate them.”15. The pioneers of animal cognition. “Nadia Ladygina-Kohts was a pioneer in animal cognition, who studied not only primates but also parrots, such as this macaw. Working in Moscow at around the same time that Köhler conducted his research, she remains far less known.”16. The amazing story of Ayumu. “Ayumu’s photographic memory allows him to quickly tap a series of numbers on a touchscreen in the right order, even though the numbers disappear in the blink of an eye. That humans cannot keep up with this young ape has upset some psychologists.”17. An interesting look at social skills. “The cooperative pulling paradigm, as it is known, has been applied to monkeys, hyenas, parrots, rooks, elephants, and so on.” “In the end, we found proof in the pudding that chimpanzees are highly cooperative. They have no trouble whatsoever regulating and dampening strife for the sake of achieving shared outcomes.”18. Do animals plan ahead? “This study was quite ingenious and included a few additional controls, leading the authors to conclude that jays recall what items they have put where and at what point in time.” “Lisala, a bonobo, carries a heavy rock on a long trek toward a place where she knows there are nuts. After collecting the nuts, she continues her trek to the only large slab of rock in the area, where she employs her rock as a hammer to crack the nuts. Picking up a tool so long in advance suggests planning.”19. The intelligence of elephants. “In short, elephants make sophisticated distinctions regarding potential enemies to the point that they classify our own species based on language, age, and gender. How they do so is not entirely clear, but studies like these are beginning to scratch the surface of one of the most enigmatic minds on the planet.”20. The three divided attitudes on animal cognition: slayers, skeptics, and the proponents.21. Notes and bibliography included.Negatives:1. The scientific process needed to be explained in more detail and specifically how it relates to the study of primates. An appendix explaining de Waal’s overall scientific approach would have been helpful.2. Lacks supplementary visual materials such as diagrams, charts and graphs. A chart depicting the different types of primates with key statistics as an example. Maps showing where the main subjects come from.3. On the topic of neuroscience a little more depth was warranted. Once again, visual material would have complemented the narrative.4. The format could have been enhanced to highlight the most noteworthy observations or facts.In summary, this was a very entertaining book. Professor De Waal succeeds in entertaining and educating the public on animal cognition. His mastery of the topic is admirable and is careful to be grounded on the facts and not to oversell an idea. A lot of interesting insights don’t miss this one. I recommend it!Further recommendations: “The Bonobo and the Atheist”, “Our Inner Ape”, “The Age of Empathy”, “Chimpanzee Politics” by the same author, “The Genius of Birds” by Jennifer Ackerman, “Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel” by Carl Safina, “The Soul of an Octopus” by Sy Montgomery, “Animal Wise” by Virginia Morell, “Zoobiquity” by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, “The Secret Lives of Bats” by Merlin Tuttle, and “Last Ape Standing” by Chip Walter.

The author makes a compelling case that many species are surprisingly intelligent and have emotions. Animals are more similar to humans than we would like to admit. My main complaint is that it gets a bit tiresome hearing him continuously beat the dead horse of behaviorism. The case has been won. Let's move on.

Das Buch wirft anhand zahlreicher spannender Beispiele einen umfassenden Blick auf faszinierende und mannigfaltige kognitive Fähigkeiten im Tierreich, von Insekten bis Säugetieren. Es widmet sich zudem intensiv der Frage nach der Definition von Intelligenz - nicht zuletzt vor dem Hintergrund unser eigenen geistigen Fähigkeiten.

Frans De Waal shows to us that humans are not unique like many people think. With a lot of science experiments, he brings plenty cases of animal cognition. Primates, corvids, canines, parrots, elephants, parrots, and so on, they are all species that share with us some habilites that we thought that was only ours. They can plan ahead, use tools, they know what others know and they have political structures. De Waal also explains that science needs to focus on a different methodology, not the behaviorism. The field of animal cognition is growing so fast. I’m excited to hear about what scientists will discover soon. Great read, so worth!

I bought the book as a gift for someone.

This is a fascinating book detailing important discoveries in the field of ethology. The book also spends some time exploring the history of the field - from a time when humans believed that all the other animals were mindless "stimulus-response robots" to now.The book largely focuses on primates, especially chimps, as this is author Franz de Waal's personal field of study, but also features the cognitive abilities of crows, elephants, octopuses, dogs, and rats, amongst others creatures.Other interesting bits of note include how people commonly abuse the concept of anthropomorphism, and explains how the belief in the evolution of the human body but not the mind is in itself a form of Creationism.This book is a must-read if you're interested in learning what we know about how animals think, feel, and experience the world.

It has become increasingly clear that many animal species share with us the qualities we once thought made humans unique (such as tool making), and that animals are not just stimulus-responding organisms (as the behaviourists thought) but have emotions, intelligenge, cognition and personalities. The difference between humans and other species is one of degree. I suspect thatpeople who still deny this are trying to justify, consciously or not, the many ways in which we exploit and abuse animals.I hope this book will increase respect for our fellow species. Our destruction of habitats, and increasing meat consumption contribute to the threat to our planet's very survival, so treating animals better is ultimately to our own benefit (this is not the place to address the moral dimensions).This book is very wll written,and I found the author's drawings charming. It is absorbing and eye-opening. I wish I could make everybody in the world to read it!