Looking for some new books to add to your “listening list” this spring? Here are two that every animal lover will enjoy.
Audiobooks are the new paperbacks – especially if you’re a busy pet parent. There’s nothing more enjoyable that throwing in earbuds and heading out to walk your pup while listening to a good book. Sure, curling up next to the fireplace with a hardcover is wonderful, but audiobooks are the ultimate way to multi-task when time is short. Here are two new books to add to your must-listen list!
As Charles Darwin suggested more than a century ago, the differences between animals and humans are of degree and not of kind. Not long ago, ethologists denied that animals had emotions or true intelligence. Now, we know that rats laugh when tickled, magpies mourn as they cover the departed with greenery, female whales travel thousands of miles for annual reunions with their gal pals, seals navigate by the stars, bears hum when happy, and crows slide down snowy rooftops for fun.
In engaging text, photographs, and infographics, Inside Animal Hearts and Minds showcases fascinating and heart-warming examples of animal emotion and cognition that will foster wonder and empathy. Learn about an orangutan who does “macramé”, monkeys that understand the concept of money, and rats that choose friendship over food. Even language, math, and logic are no longer exclusive to humans. Prairie dogs have their own complex vocabularies to describe human intruders, parrots name their chicks, sea lions appear capable of deductive thinking akin to a 10-year-old child’s, and bears, lemurs, parrots, and other animals demonstrate numerical cognition.
In a world where a growing body of scientific research is closing the gap between the human and nonhuman, Inside Animal Hearts and Minds invites us to change the way we view animals, the world, and our place in it.
This must-listen audiobook is written by Belinda Recio and narrated by award-winning actress and animal advocate Hayden Panettiere.
2. When Animals Rescue: Amazing True Stories about Heroic and Helpful Creatures
What do stories about humpback whales protecting a biologist from a shark, a pride of lions rescuing a girl from kidnappers, gorillas working together to dismantle poacher snares, a parrot warding off an attacker in a park, a chimpanzee consoling a human, and an elephant trying to rescue a baby rhino tell us about animal nature? And what might they suggest about our very own human nature?
Until just a few decades ago, there were only a few animals reported to behave empathetically and altruistically. More recently, the list of species who have been observed behaving in compassionate, helpful, and caring ways has grown exponentially, ranging from rats to elephants.
When Animals Rescue presents dozens of astonishing and heart-warming stories about animals, such as chickens, horses, dolphins, and wolves, who engage in acts of helpful kindness. During a time in history when studies show that human empathy is decreasing, our knowledge about animal empathy is increasing. These true tales of heroism, kindness, and compassion suggest that we have far more in common with other animals than we once believed and provocatively suggest that what’s best about our human natures just might be our animal natures.
Both of these books are available now on Audible:
Happy listening!
