If a Lion Could Talk: Animal Intelligence and the Evolution of Consciousness
Language: English
Published by Free Press, 2015
- Softcover
- Used
Seller: World of Books Inc, Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.World of Books Inc
AbeBooks seller since March 23, 2026
Condition: Used - Good
£ 4.98
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Add to basketItem description from seller
The study of animal intelligence has developed enormously over the last decade. Herons 'fish' using twigs as bait, monkeys add and subtract, dolphins hunt in groups to outwit prey, ravens solve complex puzzles. Steering clear of sentimental attempts to equate animals with humans, Stephen Budiansky shows us how superbly well-adapted animal 'intelligence' is for the survival of animals - large and small, wild and domestic - in the evolutionary contest. We can thus learn a true respect for their remarkable evolutionary heritage on Earth.
Seller Inventory # CIN1501142747G
- Title
- If a Lion Could Talk: Animal Intelligence and the Evolution of Consciousness
- Author
- Stephen Budiansky
- Publisher
- Free Press
- Publication year
- 2015
- Condition
- Good
- Binding
- Paperback
- Language
- English
- ISBN 10
- 1501142747
- ISBN 13
- 9781501142741
Budiansky begins by exposing our tendency to see ourselves in animals. Our anthropomorphism allows us to perceive intelligence only in behavior that mimics our own. This prejudice, he argues, betrays a lack of imagination. Each species is so specialized that most of their abilities are simply not comparable. At the mercy of our anthropomorphic tendencies, we continue to puzzle over pointless issues like whether a wing or an arm is better, or whether night vision is better than day vision, rather than discovering the real world of a winged nighthawk, a thoroughbred horse, or an African lion. Budiansky investigates the sometimes bizarre research behind animal intelligence experiments: from horses who can count or ace history quizzes, and primates who seem fluent in sign language, to rats who seem to have become self-aware, he reveals that often these animals are responding to our tiny unconscious cues. And, while critically discussing scientists' interpretations of animal intelligence, he is able to lay out their discoveries in terms of what we know about ourselves. For instance, by putting you in the minds of dogs or bees who travel by dead reckoning, he demonstrates that this is also how you find your way down a familiar street with almost no conscious awareness of your navigation system.
Modern cognitive science and the new science of evolutionary ecology are beginning to show that thinking in animals is tremendously complex and wonderful in its variety. A pigeon's ability to find its way home from almost anywhere has little to do with comparative intelligence; rather it is due to the pigeon's very different perception of the world. That's why, as Wittgenstein said, "If a lion could talk, we would not understand him." In this fascinating book, Budiansky frees us from the shackles of our ideas about the natural world, and opens a window to the astounding worlds of the animals that surround us.
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World of Books Inc
Montgomery, IL, U.S.A.
AbeBooks seller since March 23, 2026
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