#ethology

#ethology

As our world becomes increasingly clogged with human noise, we must listen to what animals are saying to us. Even the smallest creature, you'll find when you take time to listen, is a somebody with something to say. Key questions include: What are animals saying, how much are we missing, and how can we be better listeners? Nonhuman animals of all varieties must live and thrive in an increasingly human-dominated world.

There are two main reasons. The first is that ethology is a very young discipline. Although humans have always observed animal behavior, and there are records of its study dating back to Aristotle, modern science has been taking this field seriously for less than a century. Therefore, at the beginning of the 2000s, hardly any animal behaviors reminiscent of teaching had been documented.