Think Like a Goat: The Wildly Smart Ways Animals Communicate, Cooperate and Innovate
For my mom and dad with love and thanks L.D.B. For all the animals in my life especially my dog Dziga A.M. Acknowledgments A team of really smart people made this book I'm grateful to everyone at Kids Can Press whose talents and efforts helped bring these pages to life Special thanks to my editor Kathleen Keenan for her insights and her sense of humor and to Alexander Mostov for his amazing animal illustrations Much appreciation to Dr. Frans de Waal and the many other scientists whose work on animals inspired this book Love and thanks always to my family my favorite partners in this wild life
TABLE of Contents All kinds of Intelligence Chapter One Always Evolving Chapter Two Critter Communication Chapter Three Better Together Chapter Four Problem Solved Chapter Five Mixed Emotions Glossary and Selected Sources Index
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ALL KINDS of Intelligence Humans are pretty smart We learn at every stage of life whether it's how to walk or how to run a business We invent cool tools and systems like scooters backpacks ice cream trucks the internet to solve all sorts of problems We use complicated languages to communicate with each other hey look we're doing that right now in this book We remember our past experiences and plan for future ones It's no wonder we consider ourselves the most intelligent creatures on our planet But are we really Scientists who study animal behavior are asking us to think again All kinds of animals have smarts that might surprise us Did you know that an octopus can imitate a jellyfish a sea snake or even a plant to avoid being eaten by predators Chimpanzees use rocks and sticks as tools to help them crack open nuts and get termites out of logs Sparrows find their way to their winter homes even if they start 3700 km 2300 mi away from their normal flight route Oh and get this crows recognize human faces remember them for years and warn other crows about dangerous people These and other fascinating discoveries are helping us understand that many creatures from the tiny rock ant to the enormous blue whale are more intelligent than we once believed To truly appreciate how smart other animals are we shouldn't look at what they can do compared to us but at how they've evolved to solve problems and survive in their own unique environments Humans think and learn in impressive ways for sure But other creatures with their different brains and special skills have so many interesting things to teach us
