Meet the Neighbors: Animal Minds and Life in a More-than-Human World

Science journalist Keim (The Eye of the Sandpiper) investigates what animals think and feel in this bracing inquiry. Pushing back against the long-held scientific consensus that animals lack consciousness, Keim notes studies indicating that many birds model their nests on others they have seen and practice making them sturdier over time, behavior that suggests conscious decision-making about what materials to use and how to incorporate them. Insights into the emotional lives of animals surprise, as when Keim discusses research showing that garter snakes form “friendships” and that rats are “especially generous” when sharing food with anxious companions. Such revelations should compel humans to reconsider their relationship with the natural world, he argues, discussing how a recent campaign to gain legal personhood for a Bronx Zoo Asian elephant envisions what a more considerate relationship might look like. Research on honeybees that deliberate as a hive and Italian tree frogs that can count looks beyond the usual subjects of animal intelligence studies, and Keim provides fascinating insight into ways humanity might take animal rights more seriously (political parties dedicated to animal rights in Canada and the Netherlands aim to provide creatures with parliamentary representation). The result is a potent complement to Martha C. Nussbaum’s Justice for Animals. Illus. (July)