Inside Animal Hearts and Minds: Bears That Count, Goats That Surf, and Other True Stories of Animal Intelligence and Emotion

The further we advance into discovery, the greater the number of questions that pop up. Education and learning is not so simple as one plus two equals three. Rather, it is more akin to, if I solve this mystery and that one, what new challenge shall arise?The below quote by Ms Mead says much. It can go still further when we apply the principles of anthropology to the study of animals.Anthropology demands the open-mindedness with which one must look and listen, record in astonishment and wonder that which one would not have been able to guess. Margaret Mead.Excerpted from Page 442, The Ultimate Book of Quotations, compiled by Joseph DemakisThe book “Inside Animal Hearts and Minds” is one book exploring, somewhat, some facet of something like anthropology applied to the animal kingdom.Until very recently, the learned people would have scoffed at the supposition. No longer, though. This work by Ms Recio is one tome that I think essential to anyone wondering if animals can think, count, display compassion for other animals besides their mates. Who knows, perhaps one day, we will indeed learn that plants do also experience grief and joy. For now, though, let’s confine our musings to animals.BLUSH FACTOR No worries here. In my opinion, this is fascinating reading and photographs worth sharing with anybody of any age.EXCERPT‘...Cooperating for the CatchIn the coastal city of Laguna, in southern Brazil, people and bottlenose dolphins have engaged in cooperative fishing together for generations—at least for one hundred and twenty years, based on the historical evidence of a nineteenth-century letter that references the practice. The fishermen fish with nets, but due to the murkiness of the water, they can’t determine the best locations to cast their nets. So, they partner with bottlenose dolphins. The fishermen wade into the water and wait for their partners to show up. Some days none show up; other days only uncooperative dolphins appear; but on good days, the helpful dolphins show up, ready to fish together. The fishermen insist that it’s barely worth fishing if their friends aren’t around to help.Soon after arriving, the dolphins swim toward the fishermen, herding shoals of mullet into their nets. At the right moment, the dolphins signal the fishermen—by performing a particular dive—that it is time to cast their nets. The fishermen claim that the direction and thrust of the dolphins’ dives will tell them about the size of the school and the direction it is traveling in, which help them aim the nets.Excerpted from page 15 of Inside Animal Hearts and Minds by Belinda Recio.BOTTOM LINEI’m going to agree with each of the other reviewers. This is fun, interesting and extremely difficult to put down.Five stars out of five.Did this review answer most of your questions and concerns? I encourage you to leave a comment below to help me provide reviews that work for you. Further, I am writing a book for aspiring reviewers and for product suppliers seeking reviews in an effort to help improve the process and to understand the value of Amazon’s Customer Review process.Together, you and I can build something great within the Amazon Customer Review program. Will you join me?One request: Be respectful and courteous in your comments and emails to me. I will do likewise with you.Thank you.

If you are invested in animals being less than and maintaining the egotistical human belief that animals are lesser beings of very little brain...or heart or mind or soul, this is not the book for you. The authors cite study after study proving that animals are more like us (or we’re more like them?) than many are comfortable accepting. Reviews like Green Weaver’s begs the question: Did you even read this book? Because it is packed with nothing BUT scientific information, all cited in the text and referenced in the notes. If GW read this I do not know how s/he can have missed that for every so-called anecdote the authors name the scientists who performed the studies and explain the process used to determine the abilities they are writing about. If you don’t hold such outdated beliefs, I wholeheartedly recommend this book. An absolute delight to read.

I finished this about a month ago, and I'm still mulling over some of what I read. It's a well-written book, with solid documentation about scientific research.The mysterious part for me? Why some of the research ever happens? If you have ever spent any time with an animal of any sort, it seems very clear that animals have feelings, social systems/structures, etc. I am always amazed that we "need" to have this proof.

I chose this book when I was feeling restless and depressed over the state of the world. I say that upfront because I wanted to be lifted out of my funk, and my books seemed all hard edges at the time. This was AN EXCELLENT alternative!The author has done a great deal of reading of popular as well as scientific writings, and brings us to some amazing insights into the intelligence of a wide variety of animals, from octopuses to brown bears and from Koko the gorilla to Alex the African gray parrot. Some, like Koko and Alex, learned how to talk well enough to tell us how they feel. Others, like bears, tell us by laughing at their own jokes with their mouths wide open "like Muppets." Some of the mental abilities Recio describes are positively eerie. Others are familiar to pet owners. But all of her stories are well-told and engaging, and she took the care and time to list her sources, including videos on the net. I took my time with the book and the resources and still finished it in three evenings. And felt much better when I was done.

When I was a little girl, I wanted to be a dolphin trainer. I was fascinated by the possibility of establishing some kind of interspecies connection by working with these clearly intelligent mammals of the sea. Unfortunately, a lack of swimming skill and an aversion to the clingy fit of wetsuits made such a career path unlikely for me. While I never became an animal trainer of any kind, I have continued to pursue knowledge about how the animals with whom we share this planet are like us and yet also very unlike us. This book does a wonderful job of providing a glimpse into a wide range of stories and studies on just this topic. It provides a rich source of insight into all kinds of animal behaviors, many of which I hadn't ever read about before. And it helps connect the dots between those behaviors and what they mean in terms of the lives of the animals. As someone who believes deeply in the interconnectedness of all living beings, I found this book very reassuring. I came away from reading it feeling more grounded and more connected with the wild world around me. Our natural world - indeed, our entire planet - hangs in a very precarious position right now. It has never been more important for people to see clearly how our lives are interwoven with the wilderness and its inhabitants. We have much to learn from the non-human residents of planet Earth, and this book is a lovely way to learn some of those lessons.

Well researched with documented examples of each premise. Proof of animal intelligence those of us who have bonded with animals and other nonhuman people have always known.

On se doutait que les animaux n'étaient pas des robots, ce livre en apporte la preuve. Il foisonne d'enquêtes, d'expériences scientifiques qui démontrent que nous ne sommes--loin s'en faut--les seules créatures pensantes de l'univers.Les animaux ont tant à nous apprendre! On n'en est qu'au début de découvertes qui promettent d'être étonnantes et ce livre ouvre la voie. On attend avec impatience la traduction française.

This book is a nice summary of a wide range of studies demonstrating that animals are much more intelligent than generally acknowledged. Animals can plan, count, grieve and show empathy. Primates, mammals, birds, cephalopods are sometimes more clever than we are. Easy to read, at any age; no scientific training required.

A fascinating and entertaining read about the vast Varieties of intelligences found on this planet, humans being just one of them.

One of the most interesting books I’ve ever read. Full of diverse examples to reveal the surprising intellect of a wide range of creatures that we share our planet with.

I enjoyed every moment of this wonderful book. There is so much one can learn here about the world of animals. This book guarantees that once read you will never look at animals the same way again.I definitely recommend this book to all.