Did you know that ants teach, earthworms make decisions, rats love to be tickled and chimps grieve? Did you know that some dogs have thousand-word vocabularies and that birds practise songs in their sleep? That crows improvise tools, blue jays plan ahead and moths remember living as caterpillars?Animal Wise takes us on a captivating journey into the inner world of animals, from sharp-shooting archerfish to pods of dolphins that rumble like rival street gangs. A formidable storyteller, Virginia Morell transports us to field sites and laboratories around the world, introducing us to pioneering animal-cognition researchers and their surprisingly intelligent and sensitive subjects. She probes the moral and ethical dilemmas of recognising that even "e;lesser animals"e; have cognitive abilities such as memory, feelings, personality and self-awareness-traits that many in the twentieth century felt were unique to human beings. Animal Wise is in the same league as the works of Jane Goodall, Cynthia Moss and Jeffrey Masson. Finalist, Los Angeles Times Book PrizeAn ALA Notable Book of the YearA Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2013A Scientific American Best Summer Science BookA Bark Magazine Favorite Summer Book'By the end of this compelling book, you wonder why humans have taken so long to accept that our fellow animals think and feel like us.' -Sydney Morning Herald'Morell passionately and consistently proves her point in this frequently fascinating study of animal behavior.... [She] is a gifted writer with a deep knowledge base that never talks down to the reader or the academic community-no small feat.' -Publishers Weekly'For most of the 20th Century, animals weren't allowed to have emotions But Virginia Morell's new book, Animal Wise, tells a new story. After six years of reporting in 11 different countries, the longtime science journalist is pretty certain: Animals feel. And strongly, as it turns out.' -Wired'Each chapter takes readers on an adventure alongside researchers as they probe the minds of such disparate creatures as ants, trout, dolphins, elephants and chimpanzees.' -Scientific American

Did you know that ants teach, earthworms make decisions, rats love to be tickled and chimps grieve? Did you know that some dogs have thousand-word vocabularies and that birds practise songs in their sleep? That crows improvise tools, blue jays plan ahead and moths remember living as caterpillars?

Animal Wise takes us on a captivating journey into the inner world of animals, from sharp-shooting archerfish to pods of dolphins that rumble like rival street gangs. A formidable storyteller, Virginia Morell transports us to field sites and laboratories around the world, introducing us to pioneering animal-cognition researchers and their surprisingly intelligent and sensitive subjects. She probes the moral and ethical dilemmas of recognising that even “lesser animals” have cognitive abilities such as memory, feelings, personality and self-awareness—traits that many in the twentieth century felt were unique to human beings.Animal Wise is in the same league as the works of Jane Goodall, Cynthia Moss and Jeffrey Masson.

Finalist, Los Angeles Times Book Prize An ALA Notable Book of the Year
A Kirkus Reviews Best Book of 2013
A Scientific American Best Summer Science Book
A Bark Magazine Favorite Summer Book

‘By the end of this compelling book, you wonder why humans have taken so long to accept that our fellow animals think and feel like us.’ —Sydney Morning Herald

‘Morell passionately and consistently proves her point in this frequently fascinating study of animal behavior.... [She] is a gifted writer with a deep knowledge base that never talks down to the reader or the academic community—no small feat.’ —Publishers Weekly

‘For most of the 20th Century, animals weren’t allowed to have emotions … But Virginia Morell’s new bookAnimal Wise, tells a new story. After six years of reporting in 11 different countries, the longtime science journalist is pretty certain: Animals feel. And strongly, as it turns out.’ —Wired

‘Each chapter takes readers on an adventure alongside researchers as they probe the minds of such disparate creatures as ants, trout, dolphins, elephants and chimpanzees.’ —Scientific American