Animals Make Us Human by Temple Grandin & Catherine Johnson: Book Review

There are many books out there about animals, their well-being, and their behavior. I enjoy reading such books because I have a strong interest in animals and their behavior and I am pursuing a degree in Zoology. I recently came across the book Animals Make Us Human which was written by Temple Grandin and Catherine Johnson. I thought this book was both interesting and insightful.

Animals Make Us Human strives to explain ways in which we can better enrich our animals' lives. It helps pinpoint common problem behaviors and gives examples of ways to fix them, but it does not do this from a purely behavioral perspective. This book strives to help the reader understand why these behaviors occur in the first place and the mental state of the animals performing said behaviors. The authors try to give their readers the means to give the animals in their care a happy, healthy life, not just from a physical perspective but also from a mental and emotional perspective.

This book covers many types of possible human-animal relationships. Pets are in no way the only group covered. This book also goes into care and enrichment for both tame and untamed livestock, wildlife, and zoo animals. The authors explain the behaviors of the animals by giving the reader an understanding of what they call the "blue-ribbon emotions".

These "blue-ribbon emotions" are stated as being the core emotional systems. They are separated into seeking, fear, rage, lust, care, and play. Seeking is quoted in the book as being "the basic impulse to search, investigate, and make sense of the environment." The authors explain different animal groups' needs by showing their relationship to the animals' "blue-ribbon emotions." An example of this is that predators tend to have higher Seeking needs because they use this to hunt prey, whereas many prey animals have higher levels of Fear.

I found this book to be very informative. The authors did not just base everything on lab research or ideas. Most of the chapters within the books cite experiments or the authors' experiences in the field. Many of the methods mentioned in the book are cited as being used anywhere from inside of zoo enclosures to being used in farms or meat production. Animals Make Us Human also accomplished the somewhat underrated task of being both scientific and easy for the average reader to understand. The book was written to be both informative and enjoyable for anyone whether the reader was involved in livestock handling, zoological studies, or just plain likes animals.

Source:

Grandin, T, & Johnson, C. (2009). Animals make us human. New York, New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.