AURA

I feel quite comfortable with the animals. I think my dog knows me very well. And I love the birds. – We live in a time when scientists are discovering just how similar we are to the animals. I read some stuff by this guy that’s watched sea creatures and… Suppose you’re a sea otter that, like sea otters in general, uses stones to break the shells of abalone, clams and other delicacies. Were you born with this routine, or did you watch your mom and dad and start to imitate them. But then suppose some stone you came across seemed to work so well you decided to carry it around with you, the same way a human mechanic has a favorite hammer. Who do you think you are anyway?! A sea otter? Or some oyster loving human mechanic disguised as a sea otter?

No, you’re just one amongst a motley crew of creatures, be they monkeys, birds, or god knows what that for one reason or another seem to have certain ways of doing things, with the ability to modify the routine as needed, but always with an eye on the ultimate objective; namely, feeding your face.

Maybe you’re a heron that usually has no problem just hanging out silently waiting for a fish to swim within reach of your swift neck. Sometimes this can be a drag, though, or maybe it’s just getting a little past dinner time, so you decide to quit waiting and instead drop a little something that the fish you like seem to like – you drop that into the water you’re standing in: something like a bug or, wait a minute: a worm ! Wham ! Now you’re in business.

Get the book. You’ll like it. I liked it.

Ethnologist Dr. Donald R. Griffin has compiled quite a list of such behaviors in "Animal Minds” (University of Chicago Press) that makes you wonder just how different the animals who can read this print, namely us, just how different we are from everybody else.

GET BOOK