Chasing Doctor Dolittle
Learning the Language of Animals
Con Slobodchikoff
- "Slobodchikoff's
- ground-breaking
- research"
- (Jonathan
- Balcombe)
- shows
- us
- that
- animals
- have
- much
- to
- teach
- us
- about
- languageGroundbreaking
- research
- has
- been
- done
- teaching
- animals
- human
- language,
- but
- what
- about
- the
- other
- way
- around?
- Studies
- have
- shown
- that
- lizards,
- squid,
- monkeys,
- and
- birds
- are
- talking
- to
- each
- other,
- communicating
- information
- about
- food,
- predators,
- squabbles,
- and
- petty
- jealousies.
- These
- animal
- languages
- are
- unique
- and
- highly
- adaptive.
- By
- exploring
- them,
- we
- come
- to
- appreciate
- the
- basis
- of
- our
- own
- languages;
- understanding
- or
- even
- "speaking"
- them
- allows
- us
- to
- get
- closer
- to
- the
- other
- species
- who
- inhabit
- this
- planet
- with
- us.
- The
- implications
- of
- animals
- having
- language
- are
- enormous.
- It
- has
- been
- one
- of
- the
- last
- bastions
- separating
- "us"
- from
- "them."Slobodchikoff's
- studies
- of
- the
- communication
- system
- of
- prairie
- dogs
- over
- twenty-five
- years
- have
- attracted
- a
- considerable
- amount
- of
- attention
- from
- the
- media,
- including
- a
- one-hour
- documentary
- on
- his
- work
- produced
- by
- BBC
- and
- Animal
- Planet.
In
- Chasing
- Doctor
- Dolittle,
- he
- posits
- that
- the
- difference
- is
- one
- of
- degree,
- not
- the
- vast
- intellectual
- chasm
- that
- philosophers
- have
- talked
- about
- for
- millennia.
- Filled
- with
- meticulous
- research,
- vivid
- examples
- and
- daring
- conclusions,
- this
- book
- will
- challenge
- the
- reader's
- assumptions
- and
- open
- up
- new
- possibilities
- of
- understanding
- our
- fellow creatures.
pro-mbooks3 : libris
