When I was in school back in the day, it was considered heresy by some in the scientific community to attribute emotions and the ability to reason to non-humans. Anecdotal evidence was ignored; researchers would omit observations that they couldn’t fit into preconceived categories. Then some scientists began to openly question assumptions on animal intelligence and behavior, bringing carefully detailed observations and well-designed tests to prove that non-humans are not just some evolutionary automaton but are, in some cases, capable of reason and emotion. There were books about Koko, the gorilla who was taught sign language; Jane Goodall’s books about complex chimpanzee societies; observations on whales and dolphins; and even books about intelligent birds, such as Alex the African Gray Parrot. I was particularly enthralled by When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals by Jeffrey Masson, which made a broad case for emotional reactions without a biological or evolutionary imperative among all sorts of animal, from elephants to pigs to dogs to parrots.
In his book, Linden covers the same broad expanse of creatures, though primates figure prominently. (Linden is the author of other books which examine primate intelligence, especially when it comes to language use.) This isn’t a jargon-laden scientific tome, but more carefully gathered stories from zookeepers, researchers, animal trainers, and other observers which Linden groups together to illustrate certain levels of reasoning. The writing is friendly, light and fun without being silly or condescending, and for the most part Linden is restrained in drawing conclusions. The stories themselves are often hilarious, such as the chimps who managed to get into a section where painters had left materials and the zookeepers returned to find their barriers dismantled, paint covered chimp infants, and a mother chimp wearing painter’s gloves. The zookeeper’s angry reaction caused the chimps to offer all sorts of appeasement gifts as well as hastily cleaning up the babies. Then there was the orangutan Chantek, who is the star of a number of stories. One story I particularly enjoyed had Chantek visiting with some circus animals. All went well until Chantek was introduced to a tiger, whereupon the terrified orangutan ran through the University of Tennessee campus, across the football field and to his trailer where he locked two sets of doors and hid in his hammock with a cover over this head. His trainer had to crawl through a window to get inside the trailer.
However, my favorite story is illustrated with a photo on the book jacket. It shows a man paddling a boat with a leopardess holding a cub in her mouth. Harriet the leopard had been orphaned and hand-raised by the researcher in the photo. She had been successfully released into the wild, mated, and produced two cubs. When the region was flooded, Harriet carried her cubs to her old camp with the humans for safety. When the waters receded, she carried one cub back on her own but when she returned for the second, she climbed into the boat and waited for the researcher to take her and her cub across the river. She knew what the boat was for, and she trusted the man to take her where she needed to go.
In short, this is a book to charm and delight, not intended to provide hard data to convince skeptics. Personally, I was indeed charmed and delighted, and came away with a few new insights to intellectual and emotional intelligence.
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