Enjoying this, decades after first encountering de Waal via his excellent book on bonobos. The focus is still on primates, but he switches to birds, cetaceans, dogs, cephalopods, rats, etc. as appropriate
#books #CognitiveScience #zoology #AnimalBehavior #FransDeWaal #primatology
A deadpan De Waal on independent-mindedness in dogs and cats
"Ethology" referring to the study of animal behaviour is about a century old and was (somewhat) popularized through the work of Niko Tinbergen and Konrad Lorenz, which is where I first saw it.
But it never quite caught on. Even now, as de Waal writes, spell-checkers "regularly change it to ethnology, etiology, or even theology".
Cats don’t have owners.
@stancarey I am very very very much here for collies as you know. but I agree it's singularly anthropocentric and unimaginative that we think the smartest dogs are the ones we've bred (and to some extent, from evolution, have bred us) to read and respond to us.
Sight hounds are arguably smarter because they've figured out how to give us the minimum of headspace and physical energy (one walk/run a day and they're done) while receiving 24 hour care and love in return!
Stan Carey
Jim Daly
Eliza MB
mariafarrell