WHAT DO ANIMALS THINK AND FEEL?

A medley of anecdotes about animal behavior.

Can dolphins think strategically? To answer that question, Brensing, a German biologist and behavioral scientist who has written multiple books about the wonders of animal life, shares the following anecdote: Kelly, a dolphin at the Mississippi-based Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, was trained to collect pieces of litter in her pool and exchange them with her trainer for fish. “One day,” writes the author, “rather than bringing it to the trainer, Kelly chose to hide a little scrap of paper she had found, possibly because she wasn’t particularly hungry” at that moment. More spectacularly, once Kelly decided to exchange her paper for fish, she first tore it into several smaller pieces, so that she could receive a fish for each piece. Brensing’s point is clear: Yes, dolphins can strategize, and they also demonstrate a vast range of eye-opening abilities—as do countless other animals. The book is a compendium of fascinating information, but the narrative is scattershot and sometimes overly conversational (“Crazy, isn’t it?”). The author’s tendency to energetically jump from topic to topic—Ants can recognize themselves in a mirror! Dogs play games organized by a few polite rules! Masturbation is “widespread in the animal kingdom”—makes for dizzying reading. Furthermore, Brensing often dumbs down his explanations to the point that some of them no longer make sense. “In order to make this experiment comprehensible,” he writes in his discussion of mouse memory, “I need to grossly simplify something that is extremely complex and draw a somewhat dodgy analogy.” Many readers will wonder why. The best science writers describe complex subjects to lay audiences without resorting to “dodgy analogies.” Perhaps Brensing should have had a bit more faith in his readers; he might have ended up with a more satisfying book. Often marred by oversimplifications, the narrative would have benefited from a tighter focus.

A collection of intriguing material presented unevenly.