The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and Empathy -- and Why They Matter
By Tanya Turgeon
The Emotional Lives of Animals: A Leading Scientist Explores Animal Joy, Sorrow, and
Empathy -- and Why They Matter
by Marc Beckoff
New World Library, 2007
214 pages
$14.95
Review by Tanya Turgeon
A couple of reviews ago I promised some Mark Beckoff and today I deliver with "The Emotional
Lives of Animals."
Beckoff likes to think outside the box. He puts his Acknowledgements after the Preface instead
of at the end; thanks all his animals friends first; challenges the standards of scientific research;
and performs the difficult task of presenting scientific data on a subject matter that some may
scoff at; namely, that animals have emotions. He nobly seeks to unite "knowledge, action and
compassion" for the benefit of the planet and all who share it. Even those he chooses to quote are
representative of this mergence; Albert Schweitzer, the Dalai Lama, Charles Darwin, Stephen Jay
Gould, Alice Walker,
Book Hound regular
Dr.
Nicholas Dodman and
Fetchdog favorite
Jane Goodall , who
provides the Foreword.
Beckoff's research extends to elephants, wolves, moon bears, chimpanzees, macaws and many
other species but he continually looks to our canine friends to assist him in convincing the
unbelievers. "For most people, spending half an hour with a dog is all the 'proof' they need that
animals have emotions, for dogs don't hide what they feel." In his section entitled "A Paradigm
Shift: Rethinking Our Assumptions and Revising Our Stereotypes" he says, "...I find the question
'Would you do it to your dog?' to be a great leveler. If you wouldn't do it to your dog, why would
you do it to any other being?"
Beckoff reveals himself to be a scientist with a conscience and admits having begun his studies
in a traditional animal lab setting before leaving it for a humane environment. Following a lesson
in cognitive ethics, Beckoff applies his research to the different areas where animal abuse occurs
regularly; the food industry, laboratories (according to Beckoff in 2001 American labs conducted
research on 70,000 dogs along with millions of other animals), and zoos. Knowing it's ineffective
to argue against something without providing alternatives, he pleads the case for vegetarianism
and suggests fMRIS and PET scans for obtaining lab results.
Beckoff's enthusiasm is contagious and carries through the numerous case studies and
explanations. Although published a few years back in 2007, the issues and arguments presented
in "The Emotional Lives of Animals" are still relevant and important as reiterated by August 16's
TIME magazine cover article titled, "Inside the Minds of Animals: Science is revealing just how
smart other species can be--and raising new questions about how we treat them," by Jeffrey
Kluger. Acknowledging and accepting these findings means taking more responsibility as
humans for the welfare of all animals. Beckoff writes the following not once, but twice,"Emotions are the gifts of our ancestors. We have them and so do other animals. We must never
forget this."
