Animal Passions And Beastly Virtues

by Bekoff, Marc

• ISBN13: 9781592133482
• ISBN10: 1592133487
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-12-28
• Publisher: Temple Univ Pr

Summary

Who hasn't wondered what it's like to be a dog or bird? Such questions seem unanswerable because we have no way of getting into an animal's mind. Marc Bekoff's work on animal behavior and mind draws world-wide attention for its originality and its probing into what animals might know as well as what skills (mental and physical) are needed to live life successfully as a member of a particular species. Convinced that individuals of every species have some level of self-awareness, Bekoff embarks on fascinating (and often amusing) observations of animals playing, leaving and detecting scent-marks, solving problems, and behaving fairly toward each other. Animal Passions and Beastly Virtues brings together some of his path-breaking research papers, essays on science and ethics, and popular articles in order to reveal a remarkable range of animal behaviors but also to argue that the ethical treatment of animals is an especially significant issue now.

Author Biography

Marc Bekoff is a Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder

Table of Contents

Foreword, by Jane Goodall	ix
Introduction: What Does It Feel Like to Be a Fox?	1	(22)
I EMOTIONS, COGNITION, AND ANIMAL SELVES: "WOW! THAT'S ME!"	23	(54)
1 Beastly Passions	35	(5)
2 Cognitive Ethology: The Comparative Study of Animal Minds	40	(10)
3 On Aims and Methods of Cognitive Ethology, with Dale Jamieson	50	(16)
4 Reflections on Animal Selves, with Paul W. Sherman	66	(11)
II THE SOCIAL BEHAVIOR OF DOGS AND COYOTES	77	(46)
5 The Social Ecology of Coyotes, with Michael C. Wells	86	(13)
6 Population and Social Biology of Free-Ranging Domestic Dogs, Canis familiaris, with Thomas J. Daniels	99	(13)
7 Ground Scratching by Male Domestic Dogs: A Composite Signal?	112	(4)
8 Observations of Scent-Marking and Discriminating Self from Others by a Domestic Dog (Canis familiaris): Tales of Displaced Yellow Snow	116	(7)
III SOCIAL PLAY, SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, AND SOCIAL COMMUNICATION: COOPERATION, FAIRNESS, AND WILD JUSTICE	123	(54)
9 Social Communication in Canids: Evidence for the Evolution of a Stereotyped Mammalian Display	134	(6)
10 Virtuous Nature	140	(4)
11 Wild Justice, Cooperation, and Fair Play: Minding Manners, Being Nice, and Feeling Good	144	(33)
IV HUMAN DIMENSIONS: HUMAN-ANIMAL INTERACTIONS	177	(42)
12 Human (Anthropogenic) Effects on Animal Behavior	182	(10)
13 Translocation Effects on the Behavior of Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs (Cynomys ludovicianus), with John P. Farrar, Karin L. Coleman, and Eric Stone	192	(5)
14 Interactions Among Dogs, People, and the Environment in Boulder, Colorado: A Case Study, with Carron A. Meaney	197	(12)
15 Behavioral Interactions and Conflict Among Domestic Dogs, Black-Tailed Prairie Dogs, and People in Boulder, Colorado, with Robert W. Ickes	209	(10)
V ETHICS, COMPASSION, CONSERVATION, AND ACTIVISM: REDECORATING NATURE	219	(44)
16 The Importance of Ethics in Conservation Biology: Let's Be Ethicists Not Ostriches	225	(7)
17 Ethics and the Study of Carnivores: Doing Science While Respecting Animals, with Dale Jamieson	232	(31)
Afterword: Minding Animals, Minding Earth–Old Brains in New Bottlenecks	263	(14)
References	277	(14)
Index	291