Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?
Frans De
What methods of communication do animals practice and do they have a semblance of speech? Can animals recognize themselves in a mirror? Are animals friendly and affectionate? Do they conduct wars and peace negotiations? The book by the famous primatologist Frans de Waal answers these questions in the context of the evolution of cognition, a new scientific direction that has received powerful development in the last decade. The author tells about the history of this science, about fierce disputes with behaviorists, and, most importantly, about the huge experimental work and observations of the natural behavior of animals. Analyzing the ways of formation of mental processes in the course of the evolutionary history of various species, the scientist convincingly shows that man in this series is only one of many thinking beings.
