Can animals think? Scientists have tried to get at the answer to this absorbing question through experiment and observation for decades, and Eugene Linden has been covering their efforts as a writer and a journalist for twenty-five years. Now Linden looks at what animals reveal about their intelligence and their emotions through their natural reactions to the people and creatures around them. Harriet, a hand-raised orphan leopard, must rely on memory and the bonds of human trust when a raging river endangers her cubs. Orky, a killer whale, works together with his human keepers to save his ill offspring. Talking to zookeepers, researchers, therapists, and trainers, Linden has unearthed nearly two hundred amazing and heart-warming stories, anecdotes of animal humour, games, deception, scheming, and subterfuge, as well as tales of compassion, heroism, and love. Animals in captivity in particular must constantly negotiate the basic issues of their survival. And in these negotiations, they show us - if we pay attention - everything about who they are.
