In 2009, Marc Bekoff was asked to write on animal emotions for Psychology Today. Some 500 popular, jargon-free essays later, the field of anthrozoology — the study of human-animal relationships — has grown exponentially, as have scientific data showing how smart and emotional nonhuman animals are. Here Bekoff offers selected essays that showcase the fascinating cognitive abilities of other animals as well as their empathy, compassion, grief, humor, joy, and love. Humpback whales protect gray whales from orca attacks, combat dogs and other animals suffer from PTSD, and chickens, rats, and mice display empathy. This collection is both an updated sequel to Bekoff’s popular book The Emotional Lives of Animals and a call to begin the important work of “rewilding” ourselves and changing the way we treat other animals.

"Dog lovers and neuroscientists should both read this important book." -- Dr. Temple Grandin What is it like to be a dog? A bat? Or a dolphin? To find out, neuroscientist and bestselling author Gregory Berns and his team did something nobody had ever attempted: they trained dogs to go into an MRI scanner -- completely awake -- so they could figure out what they think and feel. And dogs were just the beginning. In What It's Like to Be a Dog, Berns takes us into the minds of wild animals: sea lions who can learn to dance, dolphins who can see with sound, and even the now extinct Tasmanian tiger. Berns's latest scientific breakthroughs prove definitively that animals have feelings very much like we do -- a revelation that forces us to reconsider how we think about and treat animals. Written with insight, empathy, and humor, What It's Like to Be a Dog is the new manifesto for animal liberation of the twenty-first century.

"In The Emotional Lives of Animals, Marc Bekoff has pulled together the growing body of scientific evidence that supports the existence of a variety of emotions in other animals, richly illustrated by his own careful observations ... Combining careful scientific methodology with intuition and common sense, this book will be a great tool for those who are struggling to improve the lives of animals in environments where, so often, there is an almost total lack of understanding. I only hope it will persuade many people to reconsider the way they treat animals in the future."--Jane Goodall, from the foreword.

The “powerful and haunting” biography of a star circus elephant who rebelled against her handlers and finally found freedom (Jane Goodall). Against the backdrop of a glittering but brutal circus world, Last Chain on Billie charts the history of elephants in America, the inspiring story of Tennessee’s Elephant Sanctuary, and the spellbinding tale of a resilient elephant who survived a decade of captivity. Left in the wild, Billie the elephant would have been free to wander the jungles of Asia with her family. Instead, traders captured her as a baby and shipped her to America, where circus trainers taught her to carry humans, stand on a tub and balance on one leg. For decades, Billie crisscrossed the country under miserable conditions—chained, beaten, and forced to perform stunts under harsh lights and blaring music. Finally, she got a lucky break. As part of the largest elephant rescue in American history, Billie wound up at a sanctuary for performing elephants in Tennessee. But, overcome with anxiety, she withdrew from the rest of the elephants and refused to let anyone remove a chain still clamped around her leg. Her caregivers began to wonder if Billie could ever escape her emotional wounds.

A pet-lover and award-winning journalist traces the history of cats and dogs and the changing social attitudes that transformed these furry creatures from pests and hunting tools in the middle ages to their current status as beloved family members. 30,000 first printing.

When it comes to family matters, do humans know best? Leading animal behaviorist Dr. Jennifer Verdolin argues otherwise in this eye-opening book. Welcome to the wild world of raising a family in the animal kingdom . . . sometimes shocking, often ingenious! Every species can surprise us: Chimps have a knack for minimizing temper tantrums, and owl chicks have a remarkable gift for sharing. A prairie vole knows exactly when his stressed-out partner needs a massage. And anyone who considers reptiles “cold-blooded” should consider the caecilian, a snakelike animal from Kenya: After laying eggs, the mother grows a fatty layer of skin, which her babies eat after hatching (not one of the book’s many lessons from the wild to be tried at home!). Along the way Verdolin challenges our often counterproductive beliefs about what families ought to be like and how we should feel. By finding common ground with our furry, feathered, and even slimy cousins, we can gain new insight on what “natural” parenting really means—and perhaps do a better job of forgiving ourselves for those days when we’re “only human”!

For years Jasper, a moon bear, lived a miserable existence, held captive in a cage by bear farmers in rural China. The farmers extracted the bile from Jasper's body and sold it to be used in traditional medicines. It's a horrific practice and conducted on thousands of moon bears each year. But now Jasper has the chance to be free and live a life away from pain and torture. In 2000, Animals Asia, an animal welfare organization, rescued Jasper and other captive moon bears, taking them to its Moon Bear Rescue Centre. Here veterinarians attended to the bears' wounds, hoping to give them some chance of a peaceful existence in the animal sanctuary. But after so many years of abuse Jasper's wounds, both physical and mental, are extensive. Can Jasper mend his body and mind and finally enjoy the life he was meant to live?

MMS is a substance with which one usually rids water of pathogens and thereby transmutes contaminated water into clean water. Born of necessity, Jim Humble came upon the idea of administering MMS to living beings as they too are largely composed of water - and it works! Since that time, news of the discovery of an economical and innocuous substance that can relatively quickly and most effectively free humans and animals of many feared bacteria, viruses, funguses, and infectious diseases has been rapidly spreading the world over. This is the first practical guidebook pertaining to animals: "MMS for Animals. A Companion Guide for the Holistic and Autonomous Treatment of Animals with MMS" Be inquisitive and open to the myriad potential applications for MMS. With MMS you can preserve and improve the life and health of your animal simply. Whether you seek out a therapist or utilize this substance on your own volition, it will bring positive change to the lives of your animals and consequently to your own life. What is more, this book contains an animal communication tutorial whereby you can learn to speak from the heart with your animal and as a result bring real benefits.

Tells the story of Stephen Gordon, a girl born at the turn of century, and her struggle for acceptance as a lesbian.

Scientists have long counseled against interpreting animal behavior in terms of human emotions, warning that such anthropomorphizing limits our ability to understand animals as they really are. Yet what are we to make of a female gorilla in a German zoo who spent days mourning the death of her baby? Or a wild female elephant who cared for a younger one after she was injured by a rambunctious teenage male? Or a rat who refused to push a lever for food when he saw that doing so caused another rat to be shocked? Aren’t these clear signs that animals have recognizable emotions and moral intelligence? With Wild Justice Marc Bekoff and Jessica Pierce unequivocally answer yes. Marrying years of behavioral and cognitive research with compelling and moving anecdotes, Bekoff and Pierce reveal that animals exhibit a broad repertoire of moral behaviors, including fairness, empathy, trust, and reciprocity. Underlying these behaviors is a complex and nuanced range of emotions, backed by a high degree of intelligence and surprising behavioral flexibility. Animals, in short, are incredibly adept social beings, relying on rules of conduct to navigate intricate social networks that are essential to their survival. Ultimately, Bekoff and Pierce draw the astonishing conclusion that there is no moral gap between humans and other species: morality is an evolved trait that we unquestionably share with other social mammals. Sure to be controversial, Wild Justice offers not just cutting-edge science, but a provocative call to rethink our relationship with—and our responsibilities toward—our fellow animals.