Contemporary, thought-provoking yet utterly practical, this book provides an introductory text covering the use and misuse of behavior tests applied to animals. By including illustrative examples from a variety of species, the book inspires the animal scientist to think about what a given behavioral test can be used for and how the results can be interpreted. This text includes: the dos and don'ts of running behavior tests and interpreting the results; many clear, simple illustrations which make the information readily accessible; down-to-earth, practical advice combined with a thorough, evidence-based approach; information on behavior tests for a whole range of species from companion, farm, zoo, laboratory and wild animals--all in in a succinct yet comprehensive text. This book is an essential item in the researcher's toolkit when embarking on and devising any animal behavior test and is valuable to students, established researchers, teachers and practitioners of applied ethology, animal welfare science, and veterinary science. Key Points: It introduces the use of animal behavior testing in a scientific (fact-based), but easy-to-understand manner, explaining the importance of a number of issues, such as ethical and practical considerations, when carrying out animal behavior tests In contrast to existing books on the subject, it includes examples from a variety of species, focusing on animals managed by humans, and it takes the approach of observed behavior of the animals tested, and not their neurological changes The format of the book motivates the reader to pick it up and to finish reading it because of its scientific, yet relaxed, fact-based writing style and numerous diagrams. It will not be an exhaustive list of all existing behavior tests, but will give illustrative examples to inspire further reading.

This book provides an introductory text covering the use and misuse of behaviour tests applied to animals. By including illustrative examples from a variety of species, the book inspires the animal scientist to think about what a given behavioural test can be used for and how the results can be interpreted. This text includes: the dos and don'ts of running behaviour tests and interpreting the results; many clear, simple illustrations which make the information readily accessible, down to earth, practical advice yet a thorough, evidence-based approach; information on behaviour tests for a whole range of species from companion, farm, zoo, laboratory and wild animals; succinct yet comprehensive text, designed to be read cover to cover and stimulate further reading. This book is an essential item in the researcher's toolkit when embarking on and devising any animal behaviour test and is valuable to students, established researchers, teachers and practitioners of applied ethology, animal welfare science, and veterinary science.

“You are about to enter a new genre, that of scientific fables, by which I don’t mean science fiction, or false stories about science, but, on the contrary, true ways of understanding how difficult it is to figure out what animals are up to.” —Bruno Latour, form the Foreword Is it all right to urinate in front of animals? What does it mean when a monkey throws its feces at you? Do apes really know how to ape? Do animals form same-sex relations? Are they the new celebrities of the twenty-first century? This book poses twenty-six such questions that stretch our preconceived ideas about what animals do, what they think about, and what they want. In a delightful abecedarium of twenty-six chapters, Vinciane Despret argues that behaviors we identify as separating humans from animals do not actually properly belong to humans. She does so by exploring incredible and often funny adventures about animals and their involvements with researchers, farmers, zookeepers, handlers, and other human beings. Do animals have a sense of humor? In reading these stories it is evident that they do seem to take perverse pleasure in creating scenarios that unsettle even the greatest of experts, who in turn devise newer and riskier hypotheses that invariably lead them to conclude that animals are not nearly as dumb as previously thought. These deftly translated accounts oblige us, along the way, to engage in both ethology and philosophy. Combining serious scholarship with humor that will resonate with anyone, this book—with a foreword by noted French philosopher, anthropologist, and sociologist of science Bruno Latour—is a must not only for specialists but also for general readers, including dog owners, who will never look at their canine companions the same way again.

Why are animals better at doing some things than we are? How can some animals change colour, when we can't? How can they hear sounds we can't hear, or predict a storm long before we can? If you want to know the answer to these and many other questions, just ask an animal! Animals use different skills to perform these extraordinary feats, so for each question, there are answers from several creatures, each of which has developed its own special skills. On each page there is a box explaining how humans try to emulate these animal super-skills, with varying degrees of success!

"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.

Animal Maltreatment is the first book to provide an overview of animal maltreatment as a legal, clinical, and forensic issue. It offers guidance for mental health and legal professionals involved in the adjudication of animal maltreatment offenses, with a special focus on forensic mental health assessments in such cases.

New York Times Bestseller! A delightful and quirky compendium of the Animal Kingdom’s more unfortunate truths, with over 150 hand-drawn illustrations. Ever wonder what a mayfly thinks of its one-day lifespan? (They’re curious what a sunset is.) Or how a jellyfish feels about not having a heart? (Sorry, but they’re not sorry.) This melancholy menagerie pairs the more unsavory facts of animal life with their hilarious thoughts and reactions. Sneakily informative, and wildly witty, SAD ANIMAL FACTS will have you crying with laughter.

Presents a compelling new view of our moral relationships to the other animals

Every cow just wants to be happy. Every chicken just wants to be free. Every bear, dog, or mouse experiences sorrow and feels pain as intensely as any of us humans do. In a compelling appeal to reason and human kindness, Matthieu Ricard here takes the arguments from his best-sellers Altruism and Happiness to their logical conclusion: that compassion toward all beings, including our fellow animals, is a moral obligation and the direction toward which any enlightened society must aspire. He chronicles the appalling sufferings of the animals we eat, wear, and use for adornment or "entertainment," and submits every traditional justification for their exploitation to scientific evidence and moral scrutiny. What arises is an unambiguous and powerful ethical imperative for treating all of the animals with whom we share this planet with respect and compassion.