Dimensions
137 x 212 x 28mm
Science historian Laurel Braitman draws on evidence from across the world to show, for the first time, how astonishingly similar humans and other animals are when it comes to their emotional wellbeing.
Charles Darwin developed his evolutionary theories by studying Galapagos finches and fancy pigeons; Alfred Russell Wallace investigated creatures in the Malay Archipelago. Laurel Braitman got her lessons closer to home — by watching her dog. Oliver snapped at flies that only he could see, suffered from debilitating separation anxiety, was prone to aggression, and may even have attempted suicide. Braitman's experiences with Oliver made her acknowledge a starling connection: nonhuman animals can lose their minds. And when they do, it often looks a lot like human mental illness.
Thankfully, all of us can heal. Braitman spent three years traveling the world in search of emotionally disturbed animals and the people who care for them, finding numerous stories of recovery: parrots that learnt how to stop plucking their feathers, dogs that ceased licking their tails raw, polar bears that stopped swimming in compulsive circles, and great apes that benefit from the help of human psychiatrists. How did these animals recover? The same way we do: with love, with medicine, and above all, with the knowledge that someone
