How can we give animals the best life–for them? What does an animal need to be happy

In her groundbreaking, best-selling book Animals in Translation, Temple Grandin drew on her own experience with autism as well as her experience as an animal scientist to deliver extraordinary insights into how animals think, act, and feel. Now she builds on those insights to show us how to give our animals the best and happiest life–on their terms, not ours.

Knowing what causes animals physical pain is usually easy, but pinpointing emotional distress is much harder. Drawing on the latest research and her own work, Grandin identifies the core emotional needs of animals and then explains how to fulfill the specific needs of dogs and cats, horses, farm animals, zoo animals, and even wildlife. Whether it’s how to make the healthiest environment for the dog you must leave alone most of the day, how to keep pigs from being bored, or how to know if the lion pacing in the zoo is miserable or just exercising, Grandin teaches us to challenge our assumptions about animal contentment and honor our bond with our fellow creatures.

Animals Make Us Human is the culmination of almost thirty years of research, experimentation, and experience. This is essential reading for anyone who’s ever owned, cared for, or simply cared about an animal.

A Q&A with Temple Grandin, Author of Animals Make Us Human

Q: In Animals Make Us Human, you discuss a wide range of animals, from dogs to pigs to tigers. Which animals do you enjoy studying and working with the most?

A: I’ve worked with cattle the most, so I really enjoy cattle. I always liked to sit in the pen and let the cattle come around me and lick me–they’re really peaceful animals when they’re not afraid. But the thing about cattle is they’re a prey-species animal and they get scared really easily–and I can relate to that because as a person with autism, fear is my main emotion. So I can relate to how cattle are always hypervigilant, looking for rapid movements, looking for little signs of things that might be danger.

Q: How has autism helped you in your work with animals?

A: I’m a total visual thinker. And you’ve got to think about it: animals don’t think in language. If you want to understand animals, you must get away from language. Animals are sensory-based thinkers; they think in pictures, they think in sounds, they think in touches. There’s no other way that their brains can store those memories.

Q: How has your work affected the treatment of animals?

A: I’ve been working on improving the treatment of cattle for years. When I started out in the seventies, people were incredibly rough and abusive with cattle. The thing that kept me going was that there were some really nice people who handled their cattle well, and their cattle had a great life, and so I could see that it was possible to handle animals right. And today many more people are now involved in teaching low-stress stockmanship and good cattle handling. When I started in the early seventies, I was a pioneer in the U.S. on this; nobody else was working on these things.

Q: How will this book be useful to people working with cats and dogs in animal shelters?

A: People often don’t recognize emotions in these animals. I went to a very nice animal shelter recently that had group housing for cats that had tree-like things with platforms and cubbyholes for the cats to get in, and a very astute worker there noticed that you can have a situation where a cat seems very calm in a shelter, but he’s not really sleeping, he’s constantly keeping an eye out for another cat. And people need to watch for that kind of situation, because even though it looks peaceful, that one particular cat that never sleeps is going to be stressed out.

Also at this shelter, I was very pleased that the amount of dog barking was way less, and I think one of the reasons for this is that every day, every dog is taken out for an hour of quality time, playing and being walked and interacting with a person. That’s going to help lower the stress. Dogs need to be taken out every day for quality interaction with a person, exercise, and fun play.

Q: What are the things you really like about creating a book like Animals Make Us Human?

A: I really enjoyed getting into all the neuroscience information. Another thing I talked about in the book are the problems with not having enough people working out in the field to implement things. We’ve got policymakers who never work out in the field, and some of the policies can backfire. We need to have more people working in the field. In the wildlife chapter, I talk about who’s going to be the next Jane Goodall–we need a lot more of that kind of on-the-ground work.

Q: You mention Dr. Nicholas Dodman and some other people in your field. Has anyone in particular been a great inspiration for you?

A: One of my big inspirations when I was starting out was a scientist named Ron Kilgore, who studied sheep handling and sheep behavior. At the same time that I was working on cattle handling in the U.S. in the early seventies, Ron Kilgore was doing the same sorts of things in New Zealand. I discovered one of his papers early on, and that really was an inspiration.

Q:What do you think of the more extreme animal activists?

A: Violence I’m totally against–that’s very counterproductive. All that does is make the animal industry go and get more lawyers and more security systems. Demonstrations–sometimes there may be a place for that. In some situations we might have philosophical differences. I eat meat. I get hypoglycemic if I don’t eat animal protein. But I feel very strongly that we’ve got to give the animals a decent life. A woman working at Niman Ranch said that we’ve got to give animals “a life worth living.” These cattle can have a decent life: the cows and the bulls, out on a ranch eating grass. The calves spend half their lives in a feed yard, but they’re still outside. Another way I look at it is, those cattle would have never been born, would have never existed, but now that we’ve made them exist, we’ve got to give them a decent life.

Q: If you could give your book to one person or one group of people so that they could learn more about animal care, who would that be?

A: I think any kind of person who works with animals, whether it’s a pet owner, a cat owner, people who work with horses, people who work on farms–anyone who works with animals on a daily basis is going to like Animals Make Us Human, and they’re also going to like Animals in Translation.

Q: Proposition 2 in California just passed. Its aim is to reduce the inhumane confinement of farm animals by giving them enough room to stand up, turn around, and stretch. What do you think of this, and what do you think the real effects will be?

A: Veal stalls and sow stalls we need to get rid of, plain and simple. Putting a sow in a box where she can’t turn around for most of her life, that’s absolutely not acceptable. Two-thirds of the public have problems with it. With hens and chickens, that’s a more complicated issue. It’s so much more expensive to put them in systems that are cage-free, and what I’m worried about is the egg industry migrating to Mexico and being a real mess, where we have no controls at all. What people don’t realize is that half of the egg industry is liquid egg, which can be easily shipped in those stainless-steel tanks. It’s the eggs that go into bread, the eggs that restaurants use…And I’m concerned that that might migrate to Mexico.

There needs to be a lot more thought going into how we’re going to implement things. What’s happening in a lot of fields now–with any issue, not just animal issues–is we’re getting more and more policymakers totally separated from the reality of what’s happening on the ground, where ideology takes over from practicality.

Q: What are your future plans relating to animal advocacy? What is the next issue that you would like to tackle?

A: I’m an implementer. Somebody has to work on implementing things. I want to continue working with people on practical guidelines that will result in improvements. I spend a great deal of time working with large meat buyers, because economic forces can often bring about great change. One of the things that should be a major criterion in judging welfare is when there are too many lame animals. And lameness is something I can measure. I want things I can measure. Too often we’ve got our best and brightest going into policy, and they haven’t done anything practical. All I can say is, whatever field you’re in, whether it is animals or something else, you need to get out in the field and find out what’s going on in the trenches, so that you don’t make policies that might have unintended, bad consequences. Get away from the lobbyists, get away from all that, get out and visit farms, visit ranchers, because with a lot of issues, the truth is somewhere in the middle.

Jane Goodall Video for her New Book

Hope for Animals and Their World Book Review

Jane Goodall’s new book, Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink Goodall shares fascinating survival stories about endangered species whos populations are now being regenerated thanks tot he help of zoos across the world.

Scroll to the bottom of the review to preview Jane Goodall’s new book.

With the help of zoos, Jane Goodall and the Cincinnati Zoo Director Thane Maynard share 34 animal stories that describe how amazing groups of dedicated people prevent the extinction of animals by working hard to save the animals they love.

These uplifting and hopeful stories will touch your heart and show you that humans can in fact make a difference in this world and they may inspire you to get out and help, which is Jane Goodall’s ultimate goal.

Example of one of the Animal Stoires: Golden Lion Tamarins

Golden Lion Tamarins at the National Zoo in DC

Below i will present to you one of the animal stories on the rare and beautiful Golden Lion Tamarins that are found in South America.  The small monkeys  were almost extinct a few decades ago but thanks to the National Zoo’s involvement along with other zoos and institutes around the world they helped save the species.

Jane Goodall visited the National Zoo back in 2007 and saw the Golden Lion Tamarins for the first time face to face and was marveled by their beauty, describing them in the following way “I was enchanted.  They are like living jewels of the deep forest with a lion-like mane.  As i watched them, slightly apprehensive with so many strangers in their new home, i felt a surge of gratitutude for all the hard work and tears that had prevented their extinction.”

Free Range Golden Lion Tamarins at the National Zoo in D.C.

The Golden Lion Tamarins at the National Zoo in Washington D.C. is a fascinating story in which i got to witness for myself.  In 2007 the zoo let a few of the families roam freely in a small patch of forest on the grounds of the National Zoo.  This would allow them to become familiar with tree top travel and living before being released in their future home in Brazil.

The innovative decision to let the small monkeys range freely on the grounds of the National Zoo was a bold and successful move, and the separate families established their own small territories that were about 100 square meters in range, something they would have done in the wild.

Hope for Animals and Their World by Jane Goodall

I am lucky enough to live close to the National Zoo and got to see the Golden Lion Tamarins roam the grounds of the zoo.  I spotted them between Sea Lions and Siamangs.  They were very high in the trees and it was great to see free range monkeys in North America!  The following year one of the Golden Lion Tamarin families gave birth to twins in the small mammal house in which i watched for many months.  The baby Golden Lion Tamarins were so much fun to watch and photograph, they had so much energy and loved to explore their territory.  I often saw the young Golden Lion Tamarins trying to play with and groom the Sloth couple, they seemed to really be fascinated with the big furry slow guys!

There are many animal stories like this in which innovative and brilliant people decide to try to save the animals they love.

Not only are there many great animal stories, Jane Goodall and Maynard give a great appendix in the back of the book on different ways you can help your favorite animals that you read about in the book.  This section gives you the information on where the best place to go to take action on the situation by donating and volunteering to the right organization, what products to stay away from and so much more!

Preview Jane Goodall’s Newest Book

Tree of Origin by Frans de Waal is a  wonderful book that looks to the chimpanzees and other primates to learn about how our early human ancestors probably would have behaved and lived.

If you have ever spent a few minutes watching Chimpanzees, Bonobos, Orangutans or Gorillas at a zoo you may have noticed how they have moments of very “human-like” behavior.  I find this very fascinating and it always makes me wonder if we are in fact related to the Bonobos and Chimpanzees, something i’m quite sure of now.

Tree of Origin, which was published in 2001, is an amazing book with 9 of the world’s top primate experts who each add their own knowledge in explaining how the Great Apes behavior is a hint at how the early humans evolved into what we are today.

Jane Goodall gave a quote on the back of the book, which i think gives you a good idea at how important this book is to the scientific community:

The last few decades have seen enormous progress in the study of primate behavior.  Nine of the world’s leading experts team up tot ell us what it all means, throwing new light on human evolution.

The Similarities Between Humans and Primates

Frans de Waal brings up some interesting topics that us humans have in common with the great apes.  For instance, Tree of origin covers  how different groups of Chimpanzees use different tools suited to their environment.  They also look at how the chimpanzees will set off on hunting parties and patrol their neighborhood for unwanted trespassers.  The book also talks about social customs that set each ape community apart, which sounds very human like too.

Who Should Buy this Book

If you are interested in how humans evolved than this book is deffinitly for you.  If you are fascinated with monkeys and Great Apes at zoos, you should read this book.  If you want to figure out more about the Bonobo Chimpanzees and how human like they are, please pick up this book.

Since this book was published in 2001 it may be a bit difficult to find.  My best suggestion is to try your local library first, and if they do not have it amazon or ebay will surely have it.

For further reading, please check out all of the animal books that i have reviewed.  Also please feel free to check out some of my animal pictures that i have taken!

David Attenborough's The Living Planet Book Cover

The Living Planet Book Highlights:

• Amazing full page photos
• Book that goes along with a TV series by David Attenborough
• Great for nature lovers, telling about 12 different habitats animals can live in and how they adapted to their environment

If you grew up in the 1980’s you may have watched David Attenborough’s series that aired on PBS called The Living Planet.  If not, i hope you have at least one of Attenborough’s work because he is by arguably the best naturalist in front of the camera.

Most notably David has worked on Planet Earth series and also Blue Planet, along with the series called The Living Planet, which is why i am typing currently!

Back in the 80’s David Attenborough hosted a 12 part series called The Living Planet which you could also purchase this book to read a bit more into each episode.

How the Book is Setup

The book matches the episodes perfectly, consisting of 12 chapters that go along with the 12 Fifty minute episodes.  When reading The Living Planet book, i hear David Attenborough in my head.  The text is written in a way to match Attenborough’s style which makes the book exciting and compelling.

The book was written at the same time as the programmes were being filmed.  The one is not, therefore, the direct descendant of the other.  Rather the two are cousins, both descended from the same body of research and years of travel.  They therefore have the sort of differences and likenesses that ou might expect from such a relationship.  I hope the one may enhance the other.

-Taken from the Preface, The Living Planet book

So as you can see, this is not a book that was just transcribed from the video series, it was some-what on it’s own. What i really like most about this book is how i can visualize David speaking as i read this book.  At the end of each chapter, i can see David walking in the habitat he is talking about with the camera slowly zooming in on him as he sets up the next chapter, much like he did in the TV series.

Bottom-line, who should get this book

So this is an oldy-but-goody, my copy was published in 1984 and when i saw it at a used book store i HAD to have this bad boy.  I only paid 8 dollars for it and i think it’s worth that price if you are an animal book lover, and DEFFINITLY worth it if you are an Attenborough fan, which i sure am! You can only get this used, it is out of print, that means you have to hit your used book stores hard if your lucky enough to have one close, or just check eBay or amazon.com.