Chasing Doctor Dolittle: Learning the Language of Animals

Slobodchikoff, Con

ISBN 10: 031261179X / ISBN 13: 9780312611798

Published by St. Martin's Press, New York, NY, 2012

About this Item

text clean and unmarked. binding tight. boards have very light wear. edges of pages have very light wear. mylar-covered dust jacket has tear along rear fore-edge and otherwise very light wear.

Seller Inventory # 5027739

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Chasing Doctor Dolittle: Learning the Language of Animals
• Publisher: St. Martin's Press, New York, NY
• Publication Date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 031261179X
• ISBN 13: 9780312611798
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

About this title

Synopsis

"Slobodchikoff's ground-breaking research" (Jonathan Balcombe) shows us that animals have much to teach us about language

Groundbreaking research has been done teaching animals human language, but what about the other way around? Studies have shown that lizards, squid, monkeys, and birds are talking to each other, communicating information about food, predators, squabbles, and petty jealousies. These animal languages are unique and highly adaptive. By exploring them, we come to appreciate the basis of our own languages; understanding or even "speaking" them allows us to get closer to the other species who inhabit this planet with us. The implications of animals having language are enormous. It has been one of the last bastions separating "us" from "them."

Slobodchikoff's studies of the communication system of prairie dogs over twenty-five years have attracted a considerable amount of attention from the media, including a one-hour documentary on his work produced by BBC and Animal Planet.

In Chasing Doctor Dolittle, he posits that the difference is one of degree, not the vast intellectual chasm that philosophers have talked about for millennia. Filled with meticulous research, vivid examples and daring conclusions, this book will challenge the reader's assumptions and open up new possibilities of understanding our fellow creatures.

About the Author

CON SLOBODCHIKOFF is a professor of biology at Northern Arizona University and director of the Animal Language Institute. He has a B.S. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley.