Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy
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Birds, Bats and Minds. Tales of a Revolutionary Scientist: Donald R. Griffin. Volume Two
No full textIn this three-volume biography, we revisit the life and accomplishments of the revolutionary scientist, Donald R. Griffin. He encountered a lifetime of initial hostile resistance to his ideas and studies; now they are largely accepted. He and a colleague discovered the phenomenon of echolocation used by bats to navigate and capture insects, proposed that birds navigate guided by such cues as the sun and stars, and suggested that animals are likely aware, thinking and feeling beings. Forty interviews with his colleagues and friends help us understand the young emerging scientist and the mature researcher. We learn about his and others’ research up to the present times. We gain insights into his thinking and the rigors and delights of fieldwork. Efforts to promote animal well-being intrinsically depend upon the insights from his groundbreaking ideas.
In Volume two, Griffin leaves the hostile environment at Harvard to accept an invitation to establish a new institute of animal behavior studies at the Rockefeller University (RU), and helps establish a field station. He entices the ornithologist Peter Marler to join him. During his studies of puzzling fishing bats at the tropical research station in Trinidad, Griffin meets and later marries the noted marine scientist Jocelyn Crane, who manages the station with famed naturalist William Beebe. Griffin pursues ground-breaking research with bats and, using radar tracking, of migrating birds across the sea. Detailed descriptions are provided of the findings regarding bats and their use of echolocating signals. The innovative work of numerous RU animal behavior researchers is described as is the harsh and strenuous work of field research and the thrill and joy in the scientists’ discoveries.https://www.wellbeingintlstudiesrepository.org/ebooks/1032/thumbnail.jp
Global Trees and Climate Change
No full textPlanting trees, global warming, and greenwashing concerns
Understanding the welfare of aquarium fish
No full textBony fishes (Osteichthyes) are prevalent in public and domestic aquaria, yet evidence-based welfare practices exist for only a limited number of species. Oldfield & Bonano’s (O&B’s) target article highlights critical questions about the wellbeing and sociality of Osteichthyes. Advancing research on their biology, physiology, psychology, and behavior is essential to develop and validate welfare measures, ensuring guidelines for welfare-focused housing and husbandry
What do echolocating bats perceive?
No full textDonald Griffin, who discovered that bats use echolocation to orient in the dark, also reintroduced to scientific consideration the question of whether animals are consciously aware of their worlds. What bats perceive by echolocation has become an important variant of the question. Bats sense the surrounding scene but use intrinsically auditory representations in which the timing of neural responses to their broadcasts and echoes directly affects what they perceive. They do not seem to transpose pulses and echoes entirely into vision-like spatial neural displays, but instead retain the timing of responses as a cause of perception
Can animal consciousness be resolved scientifically?
No full textCarolyn Ristau\u27s biography of Donald Griffin is a comprehensive work that sheds light on a seminal chapter in the history of ethology—the ambitious attempt to establish a research field dedicated to animal consciousness. Although Donald Griffin\u27s endeavor ultimately fell short of its revolutionary goals, it catalyzed significant progress in understanding evolution and mechanisms of animal cognition
What Vegan Advocates Can Learn From The Social Spread Of Quitting Smoking
No full textAnyone who has been vegan for a while has likely seen how their diet and lifestyle can influence or spread to those around them. Yet if each vegan was able to create two new vegans, we would have likely seen more significant shifts in the rates of veganism (Our World In Data, 2022) in recent decades. This illustrates the difficulties of understanding social contagion—the process of information (including attitudes or behaviors) spreading throughout a group—especially in relation to veganism. By understanding social contagion better, advocates can improve their diet change outreach, possibly by mastering the art of “vegan contagion.” The spread of veganism hasn’t been formally studied as of yet, but this study reflects on a similar behavior change that has been commonly studied: quitting smoking. With this literature review, we examined peer influences on quitting smoking with the goal of generating hypotheses about peer-to-peer influence on veganism. We believe these findings will be beneficial for both advocates working on diet change or animal product reduction as well as researchers looking to study the social contagion of veganism
Healthy Brains, Scientific Innovation and The Endless Frontier
No full textScientific research continues to deliver benefits for people, animals, and the environment
Would Getting a Pet Help You Live Longer?
No full textThe pet effect is the idea that pet ownership is linked to improved mental and physical health. A recent study of studies that concluded owners lived longer was widely covered in the media. Does the preponderance of evidence support the claim that pet owners are less likely to die? What accounts for national differences in the links between pet ownership and mortality
Book Reviews: Jane Goodall at 90 & The Emotional Lives of Animals, 2024 Revision
No full textJane Goodall and Marc Bekoff have made significant contributions to our understanding of animal emotions and feelings
Gregory Berns’ Journey: Uncovering the Emotional Lives of Cows and Other Animals
No full textExplore Gregory Berns’ heartwarming journey from neuroscientist to farmer, where he uncovers the emotional intelligence of cows, drawing parallels to dogs and advocating for kinder treatment of animals in his new book