Animal emotions and why they matter
January 30th, 2009 by admin
“Many animals display their feelings openly, publicly, for anyone to see. And when we pay attention, what we see outside tells us lots about what’s happening inside an individual’s head and heart. Careful scientific research is validating what we intuitively understand: that animals feel, and their emotions are as important to them as ours are to us.”
- Marc Bekoff, “The Emotional Lives of Animals”
Award-winning ethologist Marc Bekoff has spent years studying animal behaviour and animal emotions. In his new book, “The Emotional Lives of Animals,” he uses extraordinary stories and scientific data to make a convincing case that animals have rich emotional lives. And not just basic emotions, like anger or fear. Bekoff argues that animals big and small are capable of complex feelings such as empathy, embarrassment and love.
But it’s the next step that makes him such an important scientist. For Bekoff, the evidence of animal’s emotional lives must change not only how we view animals but also how we treat them. Bekoff has strong opinions about the treatment of animals in factory farms and research laboratories.
Next Tuesday, Dr. Bekoff will give a public presentation at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers. (”The Emotional Lives of Animals” is required reading for FGCU freshmen this year!)
The free lecture and book signing will take place on Tuesday, February 3, beginning at 7:00pm at FGCU’s Student Union Ballroom. (Click here for directions to the university, and here to download a campus map.)