Animal Books

Posts Tagged ‘Frans de Waal’

Smile of a Dolphin not only covers dolphins but many other animals. Find out how expressive animals really are!

Remarkable Accounts of Animal Emotions

If you have ever wondered if animals truely can express emotions to their fellow beings, this book will do a great job of convincing you that they do.  The Discovery Channel backed this book and the editor, Marc Bekoff, found more than fifty experts on animals to present observations of animals evoking some kind of emotional response to such situations as losing a child, confronting an enemy, choosing a mate, or being tricked, chastised, challenged, played with, or picked on.

There are many famous “animal people”, one of them is Sue Savage-Rumbaugh of Georgia State University.  You may remember her name if you read my previous review on the book about Kanzi the Bonobo Chimpanzee who had learned to communicate with humans by learning with Lexigrams.  Another contributor, Frans de Waal, is also an author which i have wrote about, writing the “Tree of Origin” book which is a must read for evolution/animal lovers.   And i am sure you have heard of Jane Goodall, who adds two amazing stories, one of which is included in it’s entirety below. Along with these and other amazing people, there are over 120 color photographs of various animals obviously showing some kind of emotion.

How the Book is Presented

The book is a collection of very short stories, usually around 2 pages long, which makes this a GREAT coffee book or bathroom book (eww).  There are a total of four chapters:

1. Chapter One: Love
2. Chapter Two: Fear, Aggression, and Anger
3. Chapter Three: Joy and Grief
4. Chapter Four: Fellow Feelings

My favorite section of the book is the last chapter on Fellow Feelings, which tells 16 stories that include the Goodall, Waal and Savage-Rumbaugh entries.  There is one touching story by Jane Goodall that i would like to share in it’s entirety (please note that all the stories are not as sad as this, i just wanted to share this because of how emotional it is).

A Sorrow Beyond Tears
by Jane Goodall

Chimpanzees, differing from us genetically by only just over one percent, can’t be said to weep, for they don’t shed tears.  Yet they show behavior that’s associated with sadness, depression, and grief in humans: soft whimpering, crying sounds, listlessness, lack of appetite, avoidance of others.  And they show those behaviors int he same kind of situations that we do.

In 1972, in Africa’s Gombe National Park, the almost fifty-year old matriarch of our study community died.  Flo, as she was called, was with her eight-and-a-half-year-old son, Flint.  He should have been able to look after himself, easily.  Yet he’d developed a strange, abnormal dependance on his old mother, probably because she hadn’t had the energy to wean him properly.  All day he sat near her body at the edge of a small, fast flowing stream.  Occasionally he approached her, inspecting her carefully, moving all around, then grooming her a little.  He pulled her dead hand twoard him, whimpering; in life she had responded, grooming him in return.  Then he moved a few yards away to sit, hunched and motionless, eyes staring.  As darkness fell, Flint climbed into a tree and made a small nest – to spend the first night of his life alone.

On the second day Flint heard his brother calling in a nearby group, and he joined them.  Some of his depression lifted for a while, but after a few hours he suddenly left the other chimps and hurried back to the place where Flo had died.  There he sat alone, eyes staring into space.  Later he climbed slowly into a tall tree, walked along a branch, and stood staring at a large empty nest – the one that Flo had made and that he and she had slept in the previous week.  What was he thinking?  He climbed down and lay on the ground, staring at nothing.

Over the next three weeks, Flint became increasingly lethargic.  He stopped eating, and he avoided other chimps, huddling in the vegetation close to where he’d last seen Flo.  His eyes sank deep into the hollow sockets of his skull; his movements were like an old man’s.  The last short journey he made, with many pauses, was to the very place where Flo’s body had lain.

There he remained, sometimes staring and staring into the water, until he died, just three and a half weeks after losing Flo.  He died of grief.

This is my Favorite Animal Book Yet!

Out of all the animal books i have reviewed, The Smile of a Dolphin is by far my favorite book so far.  The main reason this is such an amazing book is the fact that it is a large book, which means large photos can be included.  Another nice feature is that is a collection of short stories from such amazing contributors as Jane Goodall and Frans de Waal, along with many more.  Not only that, the stories are just so amazing and emotional, i really reccomend everyone should check this book out.

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!

What Primate Behavior Can Tell Us About Human Social Evolution

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!