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The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy ― and Why They Matter Paperback – May 28, 2008

by Marc Bekoff (Author), Jane Goodall (Foreword)
4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 326 ratings
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Based on award-winning scientist Marc Bekoff’s years studying social communication in a wide range of species, this important book shows that animals have rich emotional lives. Bekoff skillfully blends extraordinary stories of animal joy, empathy, grief, embarrassment, anger, and love with the latest scientific research confirming the existence of emotions that common sense and experience have long implied. Filled with Bekoff’s light humor and touching stories, The Emotional Lives of Animals is a clarion call for reassessing both how we view animals and how we treat them.
Previous page
  1. Print length
    240 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    New World Library
  4. Publication date
    May 28, 2008
  5. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.75 x 8.5 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    1577316290
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1577316299
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If the onus on Emotional Lives of Animals author Marc Bekoff was simply to prove that nonhuman creatures exhibit Charles Darwin's six universal emotions (anger, happiness, sadness, disgust, fear, and surprise), then his book would be very brief. As anyone who has ever had a pet dog, cat, rabbit, or even bird can attest, animals not only possess such emotions but broadcast them clearly and often. Bekoff's goal, however, is much grander: To show that wild and domestic species have a kaleidoscopic range of feelings, from embarrassment to awe, and that we dismiss them not only at their peril but our own. And if an endorsement squib by PETA president Ingrid Newkirk and Foreword by renowned animal scientist Jane Goodall doesn't give it away, then readers quickly learn that Bekoff also has an agenda: showing that using animals for scientific experiments, amusement, food, and the like is reprehensible and unconscionable.

Not that The Emotional Lives of Animals is a polemic. By turns funny, anecdotal, and deeply researched, the book is all the more persuasive because it's so compelling. As Bekoff (professor emeritus of biology at the University of Colorado) points out, "It's bad biology to argue against the existence of animal emotions. Scientific research in evolutionary biology, cognitive ethology, and social neuroscience supports the view that numerous and diverse animals have rich and deep emotional lives. Emotions have evolved as adaptations in numerous species, and they serve as a social glue to bond animals with one another." And with us, as Bekoff argues in this absorbing and important book. -- Kim Hughes

Review

“Anyone interested in animal emotion will want a copy of this book. Bekoff speaks with the unique authority of an expert who is experiencing the success of a revolution in science and ethics that he helped make and that will endure (if we endure) as one of the signal achievements — along with the expansion of human rights and environmentalism — of the late twentieth century.”
— The BARk

“This thought-provoking book could very likely change your life.”
— The Animals Voice

“Marc Bekoff ably presents the richness and variety of the emotions in nonhuman animals — and doesn’t hesitate to draw the ethical conclusions implicit in his findings. I hope this book will be widely read by those who care about animals — and even more widely by those who don’t.”
— Peter Singer, professor of bioethics, Princeton University

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ New World Library; First Trade Paper edition (May 28, 2008)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 240 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1577316290
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1577316299
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.2 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.75 x 8.5 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars 326 ratings

About the author

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Marc Bekoff

Marc Bekoff

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Marc Bekoff, author of The Emotional Lives of Animals, is professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and a former Guggenheim fellow. He has published more than a thousand scientific and popular essays and thirty books. He lives in Boulder.

Customer reviews

4.6 out of 5 stars
4.6 out of 5
326 global ratings
A Must For Animal Lovers
5 Stars
A Must For Animal Lovers
The Emotional Lives of Animals is a beautiful book that will help you understand animals emotions like joy, sorrow, etc. It’s beautiful written with about 200 pages. I bought it a long time ago when I had dogs. I don’t have any animals now, but my mom does and she read the book as well and loved it. If you would like to understand your emotions a little better I highly recommend this one.
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Top reviews from the United States

Kenneth L Winaker
5.0 out of 5 stars How animals think and feel and love
Reviewed in the United States on June 18, 2023
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This book is outstanding!!! The author is brilliant and compassionate.
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Shutterpug
5.0 out of 5 stars This Book Has Changed My Life
Reviewed in the United States on October 18, 2014
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This book has changed my life... and how many books can I say have done that? You see, I am, and always have been an animal lover and have always felt that animals do indeed have emotions. I do believe they can feel love, pain, fear, jealousy... I have seen emotions in my own dogs, so why would I not believe this? But Marc Bekoff has taken me a step further to become pro-active. His narratives, backed up with research studies have caused me to become passionate about this subject and as a result, I have become vegetarian as I do not feel that I need to kill an animal to live. My remaining question is... why has it taken me so long?

It is a fascinating read and may well change your life too. I respect his writing and his view points and encourage you to read this eye-opening book, and by so doing, you may never look at animals in quite the same way again. And that would be a good thing!!!
18 people found this helpful
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A S
4.0 out of 5 stars A great book
Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2018
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This is an excellent book, and then only reason I gave it four instead of five is because it wasn't... As "meaty" as I was expecting. It's an pleasant read full of amazing stories, experiences, and convincing arguments, but I was expecting something to talk a little more about the science ...
3 people found this helpful
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Mimy
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must For Animal Lovers
Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2024
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 The Emotional Lives of Animals is a beautiful book that will help you understand animals emotions like joy, sorrow, etc. It’s beautiful written with about 200 pages. I bought it a long time ago when I had dogs. I don’t have any animals now, but my mom does and she read the book as well and loved it. If you would like to understand your emotions a little better I highly recommend this one.
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Mimy
5.0 out of 5 stars A Must For Animal Lovers
Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2024
The Emotional Lives of Animals is a beautiful book that will help you understand animals emotions like joy, sorrow, etc. It’s beautiful written with about 200 pages. I bought it a long time ago when I had dogs. I don’t have any animals now, but my mom does and she read the book as well and loved it. If you would like to understand your emotions a little better I highly recommend this one.
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Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Proves the fact animals have emotions like humans.
Reviewed in the United States on April 16, 2013
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Author is a behavioral scientist who has studied animal behavior for many years. He relates through scientific evidence (physiology studies) and annecdotal stories of behavior why he feels it is obvious animals at least at the level of bony fishes and up the evolutionary ladder have emotions, show feelings and probably even have and practice moral behavior. His science also reviews brain anatomy, brain chemistry and fMRI studies of animals in the lab. His annecdotal stories are taken from many other respected behavoral scientists and have the unique plus of coming straight from the animals experiencing a free, wild existence, or sometimes from captive animals in true life habitats as in zoos.

The author does not shy away from the harder questions like do animals fall in love and do animals have a sense of fair play and right and wrong. Enjoyable, entertaining read with true scientific proof to support his conclusions.

I really enjoyed his book.
15 people found this helpful
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richard
5.0 out of 5 stars Get this book if
Reviewed in the United States on November 21, 2020
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If you are truly interested in the emotions of animals and want plenty of examples and stories of said animal emotions.
this is a great book with LOTS of references too so when you finish this book, the author has already given you TONS of other books to check out.
If you're thinking about getting this, GET IT!
I have bought plenty of books that I liked maybe a few chapters in but the author wasn't that great but this book is not that. I am glad I finally got it and only wished I got it sooner.
2 people found this helpful
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sospanyol
5.0 out of 5 stars Important and beautiful!
Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2015
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Marc Bekoff is a wonderful and gentle writer about his studies of animal emotions. I've read three of his books (so far) and this was the first! He backs up his words with plenty of scientific studies -- his own, and those of other ethologists -- and he is amazingly non-confrontational toward scientists who may not agree with him. Everyone with a dog or other animal companion knows in his/her heart that animals have emotions very similar to those of humans, but now there is scientific evidence... and the growing fields of ethology (animal behavior) and neuroscience add more proof every day. The anecdotes in this book are very moving, and sometimes quite sad. Humans as a species need to learn to live with other animals, domesticated and wild, as we are all part of our planet's "ecology". Dr. Bekoff makes compelling arguments for compassionate and ethical treatment of all animals. That he writes so beautifully and with such respect and kindness only strengthens the impact of his stories and studies. I've bought second copies of this and another of his books as gifts for family members (so far), both of whom now want to read more by Dr. Bekoff!
10 people found this helpful
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kthdimension
5.0 out of 5 stars "We are all in the world together."
Reviewed in the United States on October 30, 2016
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As hard as it is to believe, there are *still* people out there who doubt whether animals experience emotion. For anyone who lives with a cat, dog, bird, or other furry friend there is almost certainly no question the animal experiences a range of emotions. The range of those emotions, however, is open for debate but most of us don't doubt their existence.

Bekoff opens the book by defining his field of study (cognitive ethology) and building a case for animal emotion. He also touches on anthropomorphism and how this is a useful and meaningful way to describe animal emotion even though (hard) science has occasionally derided the person who assigns "human" emotion to animal behavior. The remainder of the book presents evidence and examples of animal emotion and behavior in support of his thesis.

An unattributed quote on p.23 sums up the book well: "If I assume that animals have subjective feelings of pain, fear, hunger, and the like, and if I am mistaken in doing so, no harm will have been done; but if I assume the contrary, when in fact animals do have such feelings, then I open the way to unlimited cruelties...Animals must have the benefit of the doubt, if indeed there be any doubt."
29 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Rosalía Balboa
5.0 out of 5 stars Gran libro
Reviewed in Spain on October 17, 2022
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Especialista habla de la vida emocional de los demás animales. Homo sapiens sapiens se niega a ver a los individuos de otras especies tal y como son, con objeto de seguir medrando a costa de su explotación y sufrimiento.
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Nshadow
5.0 out of 5 stars Superb
Reviewed in India on December 12, 2019
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Very nice n informative
enjoyable
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in Australia on December 26, 2015
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Must read for anyone interested in human non human relationships, a very important book
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Bärchen
5.0 out of 5 stars The Emotional Lives of Animals
Reviewed in Germany on June 22, 2011
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Ein großes Lob für dieses Buch !!!
Marc Bekoff zeigt uns hier in zahlreichen Beispielen, dass Tiere Emotionen in ihrer ganzen Bandbreite erleben und uns dies erfahrbar machen. Sie lehren uns nicht nur eine Lektion über Liebe und Empathie, sondern ermahnen uns auch,unsere gegenwärtige Beziehung zu ihnen, eine Beziehung der Dominanz und des Mißbrauchs zu überdenken. Marc Bekoff spricht über die Evolution der Emotionen, erläutert neuere, wissenschaftliche Entdeckungen von Gehirnstrukturen, die Menschen u n d Tieren gemeinsam sind. Er stellt fest, dass wir Menschen evolutionsbiologisch ebenfalls Tiere sind, unser Ursprung in der Tierwelt liegt. Und damit hat er Recht!
Beispiele folgen, die uns zeigen, dass wir Tiere in allen Bereichen dominieren, nach unseren Bedürfnissen ausnutzen und sehr oft barbarisch quälen. In seiner Zusammenfassung erinnert er uns daran, dass wir alle- Menschen u n d Tiere auf dieser Erde zusammen leben.
Wie gehen wir heute mit unserem Wissen um? Jeder von uns muß sich seiner Verantwortung stellen. Jeder Schritt in die richtige Richtung ist ein wichtiger Schritt!
Nicht zuletzt gibt es die "Goldene Regel", die besagt: " Behandle andere, wie du selbst behandelt werden möchtest."
Wir schulden es den Tieren, nichts unversucht zu lassen auf dem Weg, ihnen mehr Verständnis und Wertschätzung entgegen zu bringen. Sie zeigen uns ihre Gefühle in der reinsten Form, sie teilen ihr Herz mit uns. Und wer je ein Haustier hatte, kann dies bestätigen.
"Emotionen sind Gaben unserer Ahnen. Wir haben sie, aber a u c h die Tiere. Wir dürfen dies nie vergessen!!!"
***
Den Gedanken und Ausführungen in diesem Buch kann ich mich nur anschließen!
One person found this helpful
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C. Johnson
5.0 out of 5 stars Bringing Animal Science and Common Sense Together
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 28, 2008
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Once in a while it's a joy to come across an inspiring book which deserves to be consulted time and time again. Lesley Skipper's brilliantly researched and observed "Inside Your Horse's Mind" had that effect on me, as did Lucy Rees' "The Horse's Mind". For me, this beautifully written book, by the eminent animal biologist Marc Bekoff, will be sharing pride of place on my bookshelf.

This is a study which anyone who has an interest in animal behaviour will delight in. Behaviours such as loneliness and weaving amongst elephants, bereavement of donkeys and affection shared by whales remind us that all mammals share many neuroanatomical similarities, even if we cannot be sure that they experience emotion in the same way.

The book might be seen as a series of self-contained essays, tackling topics such as what animals feel and ethical questions about how we respond to what we know about animal emotion. Bekoff doesn't pretend to know the answers, but he challenges fellow scientists to use common sense alongside their quest for the perfect `scientific method' and to stop seeing animals as little more than moving objects. He argues that anecdotes gathered from repeated observations aren't to be brushed off as fool-hardy irrelevancies, and even suggests that there's a time and place for carefully applied anthromorphism.

Whilst backed by extensive research - the end notes alone reach over 30 pages - Bekoff's writing style is simple, speaking to the lay reader and written from the heart. I actually felt I could picture him sitting at his window wondering what it's like to be the fox standing on his lawn, whilst the whole book is written from a desire to better understand and co-exist with the animals he so loves. As his co-founder of Ethologists for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, Jane Goodall says in her Foreword, `I only hope [the book] will persuade many people to reconsider the way we treat animals in the future.'
31 people found this helpful
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