"From world-renowned biologist and primatologist Frans de Waal, a groundbreaking work on animal intelligence destined to become a classic."-- Amazon.

An exploration of culture and social transmission corrects the assumption that humans are the only form of intelligent life to have progressed from the natural to the cultural.

Provides photographic documentation of behavior patterns that humans share with other mammals. The behaviors are sorted according to their motivations.

A leading zoologist takes a fierce and often humorous look at the females of the animal kingdom and subverts the prevailing opinion among evolutionary biologists who have insisted that males are more interesting. Humans are locked in a battle over sex and gender: one side argues that evolutionary biology dictates how we should be, and the other that it's a patriarchal tool that shouldn't matter at all. Rewriting the science of evolution and sex,...

"People often assume a cognitive ladder, from lower to higher forms, with our own intelligence at the top. But what if it is more like a bush, with cognition taking different forms that are often incomparable to ours? Would you presume yourself dumber than a squirrel because you're less adept at recalling the locations of hundreds of buried acorns? Or would you judge your perception of your surroundings as more sophisticated than that of a echolocating...

"What is it like to be a dog? A bat? Or a dolphin? To find out, neuroscientist Gregory Berns and his team began with a radical step: they taught dogs to go into an MRI scanner-completely awake. They discovered what makes dogs individuals with varying capacities for self-control, different value systems, and a complex understanding of human speech. And dogs were just the beginning. In What It's Like to Be a Dog, Berns explores the fascinating inner...

Discusses what is known about the intelligence of our nearest relatives, the great apes, including chimpanzees, bonobos, orangutans, and gorillas. Looks at historical research that shows they can use simple tools and even be trained to communicate in sign language. Also investigates newer research that looks at planned use of weapons, math ability, creative problem solving, reasoning, cooperation, imitation, social emotions, and other aspects of intelligence....