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www.thelandonline.com — “Where Farm and Family Meet”
THE LAND — FEBRUARY 7/FEBRUARY 14, 2020
‘Animalkind’ is a delight for all animal lovers Your dog says he hates the “Animalkind: Remarkable Discoveries about Animals and new food you bought him. Revolutionary New Ways to Show Them Compassion” The ball, though, that’s by Ingrid Newkirk and Gene Stone perfect. He likes the squeak. He says he’d like it better if c.2020, Simon and Schuster you could play tonight; but he understands that you $27.00 / $36.00 Canada have stuff to do, so he’ll go 294 pages lay on his bed … thanks for THE BOOKWORM that. If he could read SEZ tively complicated tasks. baboon capers, “Animalkind” by Ingrid By Terri Schlichenmeyer Newkirk and Gene Stone, Even in the barn, animals swimming elephants and of porcine cuddles. he’d have a lot more to say. have more smarts than You’ll read tales of many humans will admit they have. But then again, you already knew pigeon romance and why you should Horses can learn to indicate a preferthat. Anybody who loves an animal ence for a blanket when given a choice never want to approach a sweaty, knows dogs don’t just bark and cows smelly bull elephant. They tell tales of don’t just moo, but that each vocaliza- between several. Mules are notorious intelligence and sentience and love for problem-solving in the barntion means something — whether it’s yard. One farmer reported to research- among animals. to you or to another creature. ers that a cow he owned gave birth to And they tell us what we can do at Scientists and researchers learn twins, then relinquished one home, at work, at school, shopping, more every day about the lives of aniand secretly hid the other — possibly cooking and dressing to ensure “the mals. And not just the critters we live because the farmer had removed a calf animals who share this planet with with, but the ones we live near, too. from her once before and she rememus” are given the respect and care Birds, for example, communicate in bered, unwilling to lose both babies. they’re finally due… rich layers through vocalization which Newkirk and Stone write of octopusThe very first thing you need to know mimics human speech patterns. about “Animalkind” is that it’s not going Furthermore, when tested, some birds es who learn to outwit their captors, and of monogamous birds. They tell of to change anyone’s mind. Skeptics perform better than monkeys at rela-
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(read: people without pets) will still scoff at the very idea that animals could be compared to humans. Folks with pets will find examples to the contrary. Nothing new on this front. Speaking only to the latter, then, this book is a delight. Authors Newkirk and Stone share story after story and scientific fact after laboratory study of animals who love, nurture, communicate, seek revenge, and play tricks on their humans. These tales are like snack food to an animal-lover: it’s impossible to stop wanting more. In fact, you may think this book isn’t thick enough. Also nice is that the last half here offers ways to match your hustle with your heart. Readers who think an animal is just an animal, keep on walking. This book isn’t for you, but for animal-lovers and those who are ecology-minded, “Animalkind” is one you’ll enjoy. Your dog would agree. The Bookworm is Terri Schlichenmeyer. Terri lives in Wisconsin with three dogs and 10,000 books. v
