This final episode of This Animal Life is devoted to my fellow wolf-lovers. Sit down for a gripping conversation with Rick McIntyre, author of The Redemption of Wolf 302 in the Yellowstone Wolf series. Do wolves really have a moral code? Are some wolves more ethical than others, or are we humans just projecting? Through Rick's compelling stories, you’ll find out why humans are more similar to wolves than to any other creature. You’ll also learn why anthropomorphism can be accurate and necessary, what our astonishing similarities to wolves teach us about our better nature, and why we’re wise to show mercy in this animal life. Show Notes: “Animals Are Moral Creatures, Argues Scientist,” by Tia Ghose, Live Science, November 2012. Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? By De Waal, Frans. WW Norton, 2016. Dog Behaviour, Evolution, and Cognition, by Miklosi, Adam, Dr.  Oxford University Press 2016. A Dog’s World: Imagining the Lives of Dogs in a World Without Humans, by Jessica Pierce and Marc Bekoff. Princeton University Press, October 2021. The Moral Lives of Animals, by Dale Peterson, Bloomsbury Press, 2011. The Redemption of Wolf 302: From Renegade to Yellowstone Alpha Male, by Rick McIntyre. Greystone Books, October 2021. Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals, by Jessica Pierce and Marc Bekoff. University of Chicago Press, 2009.

Merry Christmas! Meet Debbie Garcia-Bengochea, the bestselling author of Mini Horses, Mighty Hope and cofounder of Gentle Carousel Miniature Therapy Horses. The charity's miniature horses interact with an estimated 25,000 people all over the country each year, including survivors, first responders, hospital patients, and more. One of their horses, Magic, was named one of history's ten most heroic animals by Time magazine and declared the Most Heroic Pet in America by AARP. The question I pose to Debbie is this: do therapy horses really care about the strangers they comfort? Our gift to you is the greatest insight into the nature of unconditional love from animals. Is it real or are we imagining it? When a therapy animal comforts a stranger in distress, does the animal understand or even care what it's doing? Join Debbie Garcia-Bengochea and me as we get to the bottom of animal hearts. I promise, you will be comforted and amazed. Mini Horses, Mighty Hope: How a Herd of Miniature Horses Provides Comfort and Healing is an exquisitely poignant book that quickly brings readers to tears of empathy and joy with stories of how the Gentle Carousel Therapy Horses bring comfort, hope, and healing to children, the elderly, first responders, survivors, their families, and others experiencing life’s most difficult challenges. While the book brings you along on their many interactions with people, this episode focuses on what life is like for these tiny equines with such heavy jobs to do.

In the home stretch of this holiday season, wildlife veterinarian Jerry Haigh, author of Reindeer Reflections: Lessons from an Ancient Culture, sits down with you for a one-of-a-kind romp through the reindeer lore and science. Reindeer are sure to put you in the mood for peace on Earth. Get to know these stunningly gorgeous and supremely gentle creatures, find out when and why to call them "caribou," and learn how spellbinding their lives are under the northern lights. Included in the Show Notes, below and on the This Animal Life website, you'll find many links to videos that will further immerse you in their beauty and wonder.  Jerry Haigh is a cross between James Herriot and Farley Mowat, a wry and compassionate veterinarian who’s ventured far from his native Scotland to travel four continents, all to bring health and healing to animals, both wild and domestic. He's written books about everything from porcupines to rhinos, but his latest book finds him tending to the reindeer of Finland and Mongolia.  So strap on your snowshoes and tromp along as Jerry regales you with mind-blowing facts about reindeer. For example what, if anything, is so special about Rudolph's nose? Discover the stunning truth about this supremely peaceful animal.   SHOW NOTES: Adopt a Reindeer Foundation Cairngorm Reindeer Herd on Facebook Cairngorm Reindeer Herd: Home  The Cairngorm Reindeer Herd is Britain’s only free-ranging herd of reindeer found in the Cairngorm mountains in Scotland. These tame and friendly animals are a joy to all who come and see them. Reindeer are not just for Christmas! “Caribou (Reindeer),” National Geographic. “Follow Thousands of Reindeer on an Epic Journey,” Nature on PBS, YouTube, November 2020. Haigh, Jerry, Reindeer Reflections: Lessons from an Ancient Culture, Rocky Mountain Books, October 2021. –Website https://www.jerryhaigh.com/–Facebook https://www.facebook.com/jerry.haigh –Twitter @glasgowwildvet–LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerry-haigh-9b63735/   “Highly competitive reindeer males control female behavior during the rut,” by G. Body et. al, PLoS One, National Library of Medicine, April 2014. Intelligence of reindeer. “On Reindeer and Men,” by Tim Ingold, Man, New Series, Vol. 9, No. 4, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, December 1974, pp. 523-538.  “Living With Reindeer,” Nat Geo WILD, Youtube, December 2016. Winter is coming and indigenous Sami reindeer herders make preparations for their domesticated reindeer.  “Norway, the Twilight of Reindeer,” Show Me The World, YouTube, November 218. Sami herders struggle with the threat of global warming.  Red noses on reindeer. – “Reindeer Noses Really Do Glow Red!” Nature on PBS, YouTube, December 2016. – “The Scientific Reason Why Reindeer Have Red Noses,” by Joseph Stromburg, Smithsonian Magazine, December 2012.– “Why Rudolph’s Nose is Red,” Can Ince et. al., The British Medical Journal, December 2012.  “Reindeer” by Travis Kemp, podcast, Calming Facts, December 2020. A hilarious (and relaxing) list of cool reindeer facts. Reindeer Cyclone Videos --from drone https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOr8I0rh0hE  (In an article about this video we find out a veterinarian caused it) --about reindeer cyclones on PBS https://youtu.be/xv8UtXWk8UI --Reindeer cyclone on BBC YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xv8UtXWk8UI--cyclones as predator evasion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffkKy3brFzk “Reindeer Were Domesticated Much Earlier Than Previously Thought,” by Geoff McMaster, PhysOrg, June 2020. “Top 5 Reindeer Moments,” on BBC Earth -- 20 amazing minutes just chilling with reindeer and their peaceful personalities. All about riding in a sleigh and witnessing the northern lights. Chockfull of beauty and fascinating facts. Super charming!

Join me and my guest, cartoonist Rosemary Mosco, author of The Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching, for a look at one of Earth's greatest love affairs--human and pigeon. Not too long ago, pigeons were our darlings, and we were theirs, but now pigeons are just somebody that we used to know. What did we see in each other, what went wrong, and can we fall in love again? Rosemary Mosco brings back the magic. Her conversation, like her book, is freewheeling, informative, and super-cute. Reawaken your appreciation for this clever, loyal, and lovable friend. Learn everything you never knew you dearly wanted to know about the lowly pigeon, your true love bird, who's been right there at your feet all along.  Want to follow up on our sources or watch any of the videos we mention? Go to ThisAnimalLife.com and click on Show Notes or see below. SHOW NOTES: “Boomerang the racing pigeon returns to the owner who gave her away TEN years ago,” by David Wilkes, Daily Mail, June 2008. Bouget and Blanchon in “Pigeon is 80-year-old French pensioner’s best friend,” Gulf News, June 14, 2021.  Carlen, Dr. Elizabeth, pigeon expert, her website. Cher Ami, the WWI hero, Wikipedia. Cher Ami and Major Whittlesy by Kathleen Rooney, Penguin/Random House, August 2020. “Homing Pigeons--Teach Your Birds to Come Home!” Standing Stone Kennels, YouTube, October 2019.  Mosco, Rosemary, The Pocket Guide to Pigeon Watching: Getting to Know the World’s Most Misunderstood Bird: , Workman Publishing Company, October 2021. Palomacy Pigeon and Dove Adoptions Pigeons --and crop milk, Wikipedia. --and math, “Turns Out, Pigeons Are Just As Good As Monkeys When It Comes to Math,” NPR, December 2011. -- intelligence, “The Surprising Neuroscience of Pigeon Intelligence,” by Dr. Sebastian Ocklenburg, Psychology Today, July 2019. --in the movies, Pigeon Movie Database. --and pants, Pigeon pants on Etsy. --and reading ability, “Orthographic processing in pigeons” by Damian Scarf et al, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, September 2016. -- as term of endearment on Disney’s 1955 Lady and the Tramp, YouTube clip. --and tail whistles, “Pigeon Whistles in Beijing,” 11 minutes of eerie sound, Mark Zuiderveld, YouTube, December 2017. --and tricks, Pigeon Trix YouTube Channel. --and wing clap, “Slow Motion Pigeon Clap,” BBC Earth Unplugged, YouTube, 2013 --and whistle wing alarm, “Pigeons sound a warning call--with their feathers,” Science Magazine, YouTube, November 2017. Pollan, Michael, The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World. Random House, 2001. Renton, Alice, Biography of a Pigeon, Ivy Books 1988. “Trick/Task Fun Training a Pigeon,” starring Freckles, Pigeon Trix, YouTube April 8, 2021. Vaugh, Don, “Nikola Tesla’s Weird Obsession with Pigeons,” Britannica.

Join Lisa for a rollicking conversation with Jonathan Meiburg, musician and author of A Most Remarkable Creature: the Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World’s Smartest Bird of Prey. Called "Johnny rooks," "false eagles," "flying monkeys," "shiftless wanderers of rubbish pits," and so much more, the caracara is a cheeky Muppet of a bird. Each of the ten species is notorious for curiosity, charm, and chicanery. You might not want to share an apartment with one, but you will never regret getting to know them.  Want to follow up on our sources or watch any of the videos we mention? Go to ThisAnimalLife.com and click on Show Notes or see below.   SHOW NOTES: “An Evening with Jonathan Meiburg and Jeff VanderMeer” Books & Books, YouTube, April 2021.  De Waal, Frans. Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? WW Norton, 2016. “Fallowfields Falconry - Meet Boo the Intelligent Caracara” YouTube, December 2011. “Geoff & Tina,” Caught by The River, March 2021.  Geoff Pearson and Tina video, “Clever Bird,” YouTube, August 2008. Genius Dog Challenge about word-learning in dogs, “Squall the Genius Dog,” This Animal Life, podcast, August 2021.  Gibson, Graham, The Bedside Book of Birds, Nan A. Talese, 2005. “The Great Ape Escape” the story of the orangutan Fu Manchu who fashioned a key and hid it in his lip, This Animal Life, podcast, August 2021.   Harrington, Katie, & Jonathan Meiburg “Use of appeasement display and recruitment by an adult Striated Caracara (Phalcoboenus australis) to overcome territorial defense,” Wilson Journal of Ornithology, August 2021. “Larue the Crested Caracara and fearful behavior,” with Hillary Hankey, Avian Behavior Institute, June 2003.   Sean McCann, “Red-Throated Caracara’s are Way Cool Because . . .” YouTube, February 2014. Keep up with caracara expert Sean McCann on Twitter.  “Meet Kevin the Caracara” Falconry and Me, YouTube, April 2020. Jonathan Meiburg interviewed on “The Bedside Book of Birds with Margaret Atwood, David Sibley, Jonathan Meiburg, and Jessica Leber” Doubleday Publishing, YouTube, March 2021. Jonathan Meiburg’s most remarkable book is A Most Remarkable Creature:  The Hidden Life and Epic Journey of the World's Smartest Birds of Prey Jonathan Meiburg interviewed on “Science and Nature: From the Page to Wilder Places,” Los Angeles Times Events, April 23, 2021.  Jonathan Meiburg interviewed for Paris Review Interview, by John Jeremiah Sullivan, April 2021.  Morrison, Joan, lecture on “Crested Caracaras,” Orange Audubon Society, YouTube, December 2020.  Pepperberg, Irene M., Alex & Me: How a Scientist and a Parrot Discovered a Hidden World of Animal Intelligence—and Formed a Deep Bond in the Process, Collins, 2008. Pilley, John W. Dr., Chaser: Unlocking the Genius of the Dog Who Knows a Thousand Words, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October 2013. “Project Aims to Save Rare Bird,” Tampa Bay Times, 2005. The Thomas J. Watson Fellowship, which sent Jonathan to the Falkland Islands in 1997.  Vanderbilt University, “Study Gives New Meaning to the Term ‘Bird Brain.’” Neuroscience News, June 2016.  Wallace, Amy, “Meet the Birds: Zorro the Striated Caracara,” Falconry and Me, YouTube, April2020.

Today let's consider one thrifty, scheming, and supernaturally resilient animal--kind of like the character of Wile E. Coyote himself. Sit down and face coyote's music with today's guest, Sam Wilber, Naturalist. “So much of ecology and biology is such a bummer in this day and age," says Wilber. "There are so many things that are on the endangered list . . . it’s important to remember the species who are doing awesome. . . . Coyotes are winning against us, and I love that.” Stop fearing and start marveling about the brilliant resilience of this little (and we do mean LITTLE) meso- (not "apex-") predator who is, for all intents and purposes, just another super-smart pup.  Sam Wilber is a naturalist, zoologist, photographer, and artist based in Tucson, Arizona. She works for Reid Park Zoo and volunteers for the Arizona Master Naturalists and Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection. She also runs her own art business at Sam Wilder Art LLC. Sam has experiences ranging from zoo-keeping to wildlife fieldwork to environmental education and endless stories about her favorite wild animals and wild places. Want to follow up on our sources or watch any of the videos we mention? Go to ThisAnimalLife.com and click on Show Notes or see below.   SHOW NOTES Sam’s Resources Population/General Info: Nat Geo https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/coyotes-expansion-north-america-wildlife-nation HSUS https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/why-killing-coyotes-doesnt-work Arizona Sonora Desert Museum https://www.desertmuseum.org/kids/oz/long-fact-sheets/coyote.php LiveScience https://www.livescience.com/27976-coyotes.html Farm and Dairy: https://www.farmanddairy.com/columns/coyotes-are-here-to-stay-and-thats-ok/615795.html Feral/Outdoor Cats: HSUS - problematic stance on protecting cats from coyotes https://www.humanesociety.org/resources/coyotes-pets-and-community-cats Ecological impacts of cats https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/pan3.10073 Wildlife Society Fact Sheet on outdoor cats https://wildlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Feral-Cats.pdf Science News: Feral cats avoid coyotes and are therefore less ecologically harmful https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/11/131113143600.htm Tohono O'odham: Creation story: https://www.sil.org/system/files/reapdata/10/04/67/100467102868469620681332441170203032624/ood_LegendsLore.pdf Coyote tales https://www.indigenouspeople.net/coyotal.htm Map of ancestral homelands to reference indigenous peoples of your area https://native-land.ca/ Coyotes and Badgers: My favorite video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2bICTWNRrGE New video just shared recently: https://news.yahoo.com/badger-coyote-seen-strolling-together-151138501.html Article on the mutualism: https://mymodernmet.com/badger-coyote-mutualism/ Rabies: https://atlantacoyoteproject.org/2016/07/coyotes-and-rabies/   Lisa’s Resources Attacks by Coyotes on Humans, Wikipedia. Only two attacks are known to have been fatal ever, whereas domestic dogs kill 30 - 50 people per year in the US alone.  “Caught on Camera: Cat Fights Off 3 Coyotes,” CBS Los Angeles, January 11, 2020. Colangelo, Lisa L., “Coyotes deserve a warmer welcome from New Yorkers, says wildlife biologist,” New York Daily News, April 2015. “Coyotes Are the New Top Dogs,” Scientific American Coyote Attacks Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coyote_attack  Flores, Dan, Coyote America: A Natural and Supernatural History, Basic Books, June 2016. Gehrt, Stanley D. “Urban Coyote Research Project,”  Gehrt, Stanley, D. et al. “Is the Coyote a Misanthropic Synanthrope?” Cities and the Environment, Vol. 4 Issue 1, July 2011. “How to Haze a Coyote,” YouTube Humane Society, “Coyotes and people: what to know if you encounter a coyote,” HumaneSociety.org 2021. iNaturalist interactive website https://www.inaturalist.org/  Interactive Map of Coyote Sightings in Florida Lovejoy’s Islands, Wikipedia redirects to Biological Dynamics of Forest Fragments Project. Martin, Douglas, “Central Park Coyote Will Live in Queens,” New York Times, April 1999. “NYC Coyote Existential: Where do they come from and where are they going?” Out Walking the Dog blog. “Otis (Full Song),” by Moose & Elephant, YouTube, April 2021. Perkins, Chris, “Coyote population booms in Florida,” Channel 4 News, June 20, 2021.  Pollan, Michael, “Why Mow? The Case Against Lawns,” The New York Times Magazine, May 1989.  Ryden, Hope, God’s Dog: A Celebration of the North American Coyote, iUniverse, May 2005. Thompson, Linda Briggs, “Living with Coyotes,” Broward County Parks, YouTube, April 22, 2021.  Excellent history of coyote population trends. Wegner, Helena, “Aggressive coyote attacks woman walking dog--nips at others, Arizona police say,” Charlotte Observer, October 19, 2021. Wild Dog Foundation

Learn all about animal acting with Dawn Wolfe, an Animal Talent Agent and Wrangler for almost thirty years. Dawn runs her own talent agency, PAWSITIVELY FAMOUS, a national Animal Modeling and Talent Management firm. It all began when Dawn was a little girl and fell in love with the scrappy dog known as Benji. Benji was one of the most popular animals ever in the history of cinema. Learn all about Benji, aka. Higgins the dog, and fascinating, hilarious, behind-the-scenes stories of animal actors and their handlers seeking fame, glory, and belly laughs. Want to follow up on our sources or watch any of the videos we mention? Go to ThisAnimalLife.com and click on Show Notes.  Interested in KLIMB tables and other Blue-9 products? Click here to learn more and apply our promo code, ANIMAL2020 to get free shipping and $20 off. References: lgonquin, the Story of a Great Dog, by Dion Henderson, Western Publishing Company, 1953.  Benji--The Full Movie, 1974, EncourageTV, YouTube, October 2020. The Big Book of Tricks for the Best Dog Ever, by Chris Perondi and Larry Kay, Workman Publishing, 2019. Beverly Hillbillies, Wikipedia. Captain (Arthur) Haggerty, Master Dog Trainer, Wikipedia. Clicker Training for Cats, Karen Pryor, Sunshine Books, 2001. Cooper, Diana C., “Higgins--from Shelter Dog to Beloved Benji,” Famous Dogs in History, July 2017. Dawn Wolfe Social Media Dawn Wolfe Instagram Pawsitively Famous, Dawn Wolfe’s animal talent agency’s website Pawsitively Famous Facebook Page Do More With Your Dog Dog Trick Titles and Stunt Dog Titles Do More With Your Dog Animal Actors Academie Internationale First Born, starring Elisabeth Shue and Dawn Wolfe’s dog, Nikki, 2007. “Frank Inn: Animal Trainer,” full 4-hour interview, interviewed by Michael Rosen, Television Academy Foundation, The Interviews, August 8, 2001 “Frank Inn on the dog who worked on Petticoat Junction and starred in Benji,” Foundation Interviews,  “Higgins the Dog ~ Star of Benji, Petticoat Junction, Beverly Hillbillies, Lassie, Mooch,” The Humpy Awards, Miss Hope wins the humping competition, YouTube, June 2012. Hope in the “Westminster Commercial” for Treasure Island Resort & Casinos, YouTube. London, Jack, Call of the Wild/White Fang, Ann Arbor Media, 2006. “Maverick the Surfer Cat,” Cat People, YouTube, Netflix Futures, July 2021. Pawsitively Famous YouTube Channel Petticoat Junction, Wikipedia. Petticoat Junction, “Betty-Jo’s Dog,” Season 2, Episode 1, YouTube March 2017. Prose, Eileen, “Remember Benji? Meet the movie dog and his trainer. See his tricks!,” YouTube, June 2017. Sasha, My Friend, by Barbara Corcoran, Atheneum, 1973.  Stanley Steemer, “Toby’s New Trick,” The Loomis Agency, YouTube. TV Guide, “The Benji Issue,” December 2-8 1978. Where the Red Fern Grows, by Wilson Rawls, Yearling, 2000.

Lots of people live with smart dogs, but what is it like to live with a canine genius? Meet border collie Squall and his housemate Bobbie Kurivial, one of only six dog-human teams to make it to the end of the international Genius Dog Challenge.  On a quest to find "canine Einsteins or Mozarts," ethologists at Eötvös Loránd University in Hungary issued the Genius Dog Challenge, winnowed the contestants down to just the few true geniuses, studied their world learning capabilities to much astonishment, and took Bobbie and Squall on the adventure of a lifetime. Want to follow up on our sources or watch any of the videos we mention? Go to ThisAnimalLife.com and click on Show Notes.  Interested in KLIMB tables and other Blue-9 products we discuss? Click here to learn more and apply our promo code, ANIMAL2020 to get free shipping and $20 off. References:   Csányi, Vilmos, If Dogs Could Talk: Exploring the Canine Mind, translated by Richard E. Quandt, North Point Press, December 2005. Dror, Shany, “Do Dogs Understand Us?” The Family Pupz Podcast, by Tanya & Charles Lim, Apple Podcasts, September 2021.  Dror, Shany, & Adam Miklosi, “Max & Squall,” Genius Dog Challenge, YouTube, November 18, 2020. Dror, Shany, & Claudia Fugazza, “Finals: Nalani & Squall,”  Genius Dog Challenge, YouTube, December 16, 2020.  Family Dog Project, founded by Vilmos Csányi, Ádám Miklósi, and József Topál to study the behavioral and cognitive aspects of the dog-human relationship. Fugazza, Claudia, Dr.,  Do as I Do: Using Social Learning to Train Dogs, Dogwise Publishing, June 30 2014. Fugazza, Claudia, “Word learning dogs (Canis Familiaris) provide an animal model for studying exceptional performance,” Nature, July 7, 2021.  Genius Dog Challenge, research conducted at Eötvös Loránd University, Department of Ethology and The Family Dog Project. If your dog knows the names of more than 10 objects or toys and you are interested in cooperating, you may apply to participate with your dog here. Genius Dog Challenge social media: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/geniusdogchallenge Instagram: http://instagram.com/geniusdogchallenge Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/GeniusDogChallenge\ And if you think your dog is a genius, reach out to Shany Dror directly at shanydror@geniusdogchallenge.com! Inskeep, Stephen, “Researchers study very smart dogs for their grasp of human language,” NPR Morning Edition, October 6, 2021. Miklosi, Adam, Dr.  Dog Behaviour, Evolution, and Cognition, Oxford University Press 2016. Morell, Virginia, “Some dogs are geniuses--just like humans,” National Geographic, July 14, 2021. Morrison, Ryan, “Is your dog gifted?” Daily Mail,  October 6, 2021. Shany Dror, Ádám Miklósi, Andrea Sommese, Andrea Temesi and Claudia Fugazza, “Acquisition and long-term memory of object names in a sample of Gifted Word-Learner dogs,” Royal Society Publishing, October 6, 2021. Pilley JW, Reid AK. 2011Border collie comprehends object names as verbal referents. Behav. Processes 86, 184-195. (doi:10.1016/j.beproc.2010.11.007) Crossref, PubMed, ISI, Google Scholar Pilley, John W. Dr., Chaser: Unlocking the Genius of the Dog Who Knows a Thousand Words, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, October 2013. Robins, Mary, “How Much Language Do Dogs Really Understand?” American Kennel Club News, March 2021.

Have you ever watched a relentlessly clever squirrel outwit a squirrel-proof bird feeder? Few things are more entertaining. In fact, stumping squirrels is big business, and studying how different squirrel personalities respond to environmental challenges is actually some people's day job. And yes, you read that right: "squirrel personalities." Finally, scientists have the intellectual freedom to admit animals have personalities. In today's episode, Ann and Lisa discuss animal personality science in the context of squirrels. We also introduce you to the four game show contestants, Rick, Marty, Frank, and Phat Gus, who competed in an obstacle course for a cache prize of walnuts. Bored and isolated during the early days of the pandemic, YouTube engineer and inventor. Mark Rober decided to become a birdwatcher, but before he knew it, he was producing and hosting a crazy new YouTube show, Backyard Squirrel Maze 1.0: Ninja Warrior Course.  Want to follow up on our sources or watch any of the videos we mention? Go to ThisAnimalLife.com and click on Show Notes.   Aliperti, Jaclyn R., et. al., “Bridging animal personality with space use and resource use in a free-ranging population of an asocial ground squirrel,” Science Direct, Vol. 180, October 2021.  Darwin, Charles, essay, “The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals,” Darwin Online, 1872. Ebert, Roger, review of “Day of the Jackal,” Roger Eber. Com, July 1973. “One hell of an exciting movie.” Kerlin, Kat, “Personality Matters, Even for Squirrels,” UC Davis, September 2021. Luckey, Bud, animator, “Sesame Street: That’s About the Size,” YouTube. Luscomb, Richard, “Squirrels have human-like personality traits,” The Guardian, September 2021. “Meerkat Manor,” Wikipedia page. Micu, Alexandra, “Understanding squirrel Personalities can help us better protect endangered species,” ZME Science, September 22, 2021. Morgan, Lloyd, “Morgan’s Canon,” Oxford Reference. O’Leary, Denyse, “Why Do Researchers Wonder Whether Animals Have Personalities?” Mind Matters, February 2021. Rober, Mark, “Backyard Squirrel Maze 1.0: Ninja Warrior Course,” YouTube, May 24, 2020. Shivik, John A., “Do animals have personalities? Why scientists are starting to admit they do,”  NBC News, December 2017. Sorcerer, directed by William Friedkin, starring Roy Scheider, Universal Pictures and Paramount, 1977. Be patient with the early backstories or just skip them till Roy gets to the jungle. Young, Miriam, Miss Suzy #1, Purple House Press, 1964, 2004.

What's it like to think like a slime mold? Join Lisa and American writer, scholar, and film critic Steven Shaviro for a wildly erudite and imaginative look at the nature of consciousness in Physarum polycephalum, otherwise known as "The Blob," a brainless amoeba that thinks, learns, and inspires so much more than science fiction. Want to follow up on our sources or watch any of the videos we mention? Go to ThisAnimalLife.com and click on Show Notes.   Barnett, Heather, “What humans can learn from semi-intelligent slime,” Jul 17, 2014.  A TED talk about slime mold. The Blob: A Genius Without a Brain (TV Movie). Directed by Jacques Mitsch, 2019. Can Slime Mould Solve Mazes?, BBC Earth Lab, Dec 5, 2018. Reproduction of the Tokyo Metro study. The Creeping Garden Documentary.Directed by Tim Grabham and Jasper Sharp, 2014. Click here for the trailer. Dussutour, Audrey, “Le Blob,” Tout ce que vous avez toujours voulu savoir sur le blob sans jamais oser le demander, Des Equateurs, April 27th 2017.  Dussutour, Audrey, “Decision-making in Slime Molds,” ACM Collective Intelligence 2020, June 2020.  Eaglemann, David, Livewired: The Inside Story of the Ever-Changing Brain, Pantheon Books, 2020. Hollowman, Luke M.S., “Anesthesia Works on Plants Too, and We Don’t Know Why,” Medium, July 2020. “Mould Time-lapse – The Great British Year: Episode 4,” Preview – BBC One. Oct 18, 2013. Nagel, Thomas. “What is it like to be a bat?” The Philosophical Review. 83 (4), 1974. [Link to Wikipedia page]. Pollan, Michael, The Botany of Desire: A Plant’s-Eye View of the World. Random House, 2001. Shaviro, Steven, Discognition Repeater, 2016. “Slime Molds: No Brains No Feet No Problem” PBS News Hour, April 2012. The Slime Mould Collective “The Slime Mould Collective is a portal for interesting, progressive and ground breaking research and creative practice working with the simple yet intelligent organisms. If you are involved with or interested in slime moulds as a scientist, artist, designer, teacher, philosopher… (etc), please join and share what you do.” Can put you in touch with sources of slime mold. Tchaikovsky, Adrian, Children of Time,  PanMacmillan, 2015. The mind-blowing spider novel. Tchaikovsky, Adrian, Children of Ruin, Macmillan Digital Audio, 2019. The super-cool octopus novel that includes an all-consuming slime-like creature.

Do you have a nature center near you? Ann does--go along with her and volunteer raptor handler Lew Boynton to meet a whole cast of avian characters living at the John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove. Nature Centers give us a humane way to understand the wildlife around us. Volunteering at your local nature center can provide you the privilege of caring for and interacting with wild animals.  Want to follow up on our sources or watch any of the videos we mention? Go to ThisAnimalLife.com and click on Show Notes. REFERENCES: Boyd Hill Nature Preserve  How to Find a Wildlife Rehabilitator “How to Love a Buzzard,” by Lisa Lanser Rose, Sugar Mule: Women Writing Nature, August 2012. John James Audubon Center at Mill Grove John James Audubon website MacDonald, Helen, H is for Hawk, Jonathan Cape, 2014. National Wildlife Rehabilitators Association “The Second Coming,” poem by William Butler Yeats Shavers Creek Environmental Center  Suncoast Seabird Sanctuary   White, T.H., The Goshawk, NYRB Classics, 2007.

Ann and Lisa discuss the problem of false alerts in scent detection, particularly during cadaver dog searches. People's lives, careers, and peace of mind hang in the balance. What is a "false alert?" How, when, and why do they happen, and whose fault is it? Uncertainty and subjectivity may be hopelessly baked into the human-canine relationship.  Want to follow up on our sources or watch any of the videos we mention? Go to ThisAnimalLIfe.com and click on Show Notes.   Balko, Radley, “The Supreme Court’s ‘Alternative Facts’ About Drug-Sniffing Dogs,” Opinion, Washington Post, February 2019. Bianca Jones article, “Father Convicted of Murdering his 2-Year-Old Daughter 6 Years Ago Says She’s Still Alive,” by Kevin Deitz, Click-On Detroit, January 2018. The Bone Room, where you can buy Search and Rescue (SAR) training packets online. The Bone Room on Science Friday, by Lauren Young, October 2018. “Brief Supplementing Motions to Exclude Unreliable Dog Sniff Evidence,” People of the State of Colorado V. Mark Allen Redwine. “Cadaver Dog Experts Take Stand in Redwine Trial,” Fox31 News, by Nicole Fierro, July 6, 2021. Cadaver Dog handler of Molly recounts “strongest alert ever” by Dave Minsky, Lompoc Record, August 11, 2021.  Cadaver dog as “junk science,” Patty Neiberg, “Colorado father convicted of killing his 13-year-old son,”  AP News, July 16, 2021. “Casey Anthony Trial Raises Questions About Cadaver Dogs,” Ed. Colin Miller, EvidenceProf Blog, University of South Carolina School of Law, Law Professor Blogs Network, June 2011. Chris Lambert’s podcast about Kristin Smart, Your Own Backyard  Derr, Mark, “With Dog Detectives, Mistakes Can Happen,” NYTimes, December 2002. “The Disappearance of Kristin Smart: What Happened and What’s Next,” by Brenna Ehrlich, Rolling Stone, September 8, 2021. “Dog Handler Sentenced for Planting Fake Evidence,” Chicago Tribune, September 2004.  “Effect of Handler Knowledge of the Detection Task on Canine Search Behavior and Performance,” by DeChant et. al., Frontiers in Veterinary Science, May 2020. “Handler beliefs affect scent detection dog outcomes,” by Lisa Lit, et. al, National Center for Biotechnology Information, January 2011. “How to Train a Cadaver Dog,” by Malia Wollen, NYTimes, June 2015. Redwine case & cadaver dogs, Allison Sylte, 9News, July 6, 2021. Warren, Cat, What the Dog Knows, Touchstone, October 2013.

Have you ever heard of crows who leave gifts for people who feed them? We'll tell you a few stories and ask a few probing questions. Did the crows really leave them? And if so, was it because they felt grateful or did their moms force them to? Maybe they're just buttering us up to keep the gravy train rolling. And how is that different than scrawling thank-you notes to Grandma or handing your teacher a five-dollar Starbucks card with an apple on it? Join Ann and Lisa as they monkey with these and other cool crow puzzles.  Want to follow up on our sources or watch any of the videos we mention? Go to ThisAnimalLIfe.com and click on Show Notes.   Andrews, Candace Gaukel, “Crows are as Intelligent as a Seven-Year-Old Child,” Good Nature Travel, October 2018. Bittel, Jason, “Think Crow Funerals Are Strange? Wait Until You See the Wake.” Audubon, July 2018. Bloom, Cameron, and Bradley Trevor Greive, Penguin Bloom: The Odd Little Bird Who Saved a Family, ABC Books, March 2016. "The Coffee-Table Book" Bloom, Cameron, and Bradley Trevor Greive, Penguin Bloom: how a scruffy magpie saved a family,” The Guardian, October 2016. A cool photostory. Heinrich, Bernd, Mind of the Raven: Investigations and Adventures with Wolf-Birds, Ecco Press, 2000. Marzluff, M., John, & Tony Angell, Gifts of the Crow: How Perception, Emotion, and and Thought Allow Smart Birds to Behave Like Humans, Simon and Schuster 2012. McNiece, Mia, “How a Magpie Helped Save Australian Mom Sam Bloom After a Tragic Acciden--And Inspired a Netflix Movie,” People, January 2021. Messenger, Stephanie, “Crows Keep Bringing Presents to Woman Who is Kind to Them,” The Dodo, August 2019. Mock, Jillian, “Did Crows Actually Make These Gifts for the Human Who Feeds Them?” Audubon, May 2019.  Saint John, Kate, “Gifts from Crows” Outside My Window, February 2019.Sewell, Katy “The girl who gets gifts from birds,” BBC News, February 2015.

Meet Fu Manchu, master of deception, world-class escape artist, and party guy. Oh, and Fu's also an orangutan. Ann tells Fu's joyfully mysterious story, and together she and Lisa try to pick the lock on Fu's mind. No one argues he fashioned an ingenious tool, but to what extent was he deceiving his captors? Fu Man Chu challenges human assumptions about other creatures' Theory of Mind, the ability to imagine what another creature is thinking and to behave accordingly.  Want to learn more or watch any of the videos we mention? Go to ThisAnimalLife.com and click on Show Notes.   Calhoun, Ben, “Fu Manchu,” Radiolab, January 2010. Gaines, James, “This epic zoo escape story shows how fantastically smart orangutans can be,” Upworthy, August 2016. Stockton, Paysha, "Animal tales: an orangutan escape artist, other stories," Seattle Times, September 2000.

Maybe you never heard of him, but Jim the Wonder Dog was once the most famous dog in the USA. A Lewellin setter, he was insured for $100,000 and that was during the 1930's. A gun dog, Jim held the record for the most birds retrieved, but that’s not what made Jim a Wonder Dog. Jim could correctly answer any question posed to him in any language, spoken or written. He could even understand Morse code. Eventually, he could also predict the future! He baffled all the experts, and mobsters threatened his life. How did he do it? And what do we know now that experts didn't know then? Listen to the amazing true story of America's favorite psychic dog. Want to follow up on our sources or watch any of the videos we mention? Go to ThisAnimalLIfe.com and click on Show Notes.  Cernich, Karen, “Jim’s Story Will Make You Wonder, How Did He Do It?”  EMissourian.com Jan. 14, 2017. Clever Hans on Wikipedia Dailey, Nancy B., Jim aka The Wonder Dog, Paperback Press, 2018. Figley, Mary Rhodes, The True Story of Jim the Wonder Dog, Roadrunner Press, 2017. Hearne, Vicki, Adam’s Task: Calling Animals by Name. Skyhorse, 1986. Kelly, Kate, “Jim the Wonder Dog: Was He Psychic?” American Dogs, America Comes Alive!  Gymnasium Mathematics--it turns out ”gymnasium” is a European term for a secondary (high) school. Mitchell, Clarence Dewey,  Jim the Wonder Dog, Jim the Wonder Dog Inc., 1942. This seems to be the museum’s official biography, and it was written in collaboration with Jim’s owner, Sam VanArsdale. The Jim the Wonder Dog Museum website Theory of Mind on Wikipedia

Dog and cat people know their pets dream, but do all animals dream? What about birds? Octopuses? Even fruit flies? Ann and Lisa explore how scientists know if other animals are dreaming and even what they might be dreaming about. Why do we wingless humans dream we can fly? If we dream we can fly, do birds dream they can drive a car? Lisa and Ann discuss recent studies into how, why, and what animals dream about. Learn just how similar animal dreams might be. Want to follow up on our sources or watch any of the videos we mention? Go to ThisAnimalLIfe.com and click on Show Notes.  dreams, MIT researcher proves.” MIT News Office. January 2001. “Do Animals Dream?” Earth/Sky. February 2019. Eaglemann, David and Don Vaugh. “Why Do We Dream? A New Theory on How It Protects Our Brains.” December 2020. Fox, Douglas “Do Fruit Flies Dream of Electric Bananas?” New Scientist. February 2004. Giaimo, Cara. “Why We Love to Fly in Our Dreams.” Slate. November 2016. Goldman, Jason G. “What do animals dream about?” BBC. April 2014. Horton, Lydiard Heneage. Dissertation on the Dream Problem. Vol. 1.  Louie, Kenway , Matthew A Wilson. “Temporally Structured Replay of Awake Hippocampal Ensemble Activity during Rapid Eye Movement Sleep.” Neuron. Vol 29. Issue 1. January 2001. “Octopus Dreaming.” Octopus: Making Contact. Nature. Season 38 Episode 1 Rattenborg, Niels C.  et al. “Local Aspects of Avian Non-REM and REM Sleep.” Frontiers in Neuroscience. June 2019. Setka, Bret. “Bird Brains are Far More Humanlike Than Once Thought.” September 2020. Smith, Belinda. “Why dreams like flying, falling, being chased are so common, and how your brain creates them.” ABC Science. January 2019. Vanderbilt University, “Study Gives New Meaning to the Term ‘Bird Brain.’” Neuroscience News, June 2016.

Nothing blows the human mind quite like octopus intelligence. Lisa and Ann investigate the powerful charm of the octopus brain. Filled with fascinating facts and the story behind the story of the riveting inter-species love affair in My Octopus Teacher, this episode shows why the octopus has such a suction grip on our imagination. Even if you've read Sy Montgomery’s The Soul of an Octopus and watched the 2021 Academy Award Winning documentary, My Octopus Teacher, you will learn a lot more about the strange and wondrous cephalopod mind.  Want to follow up on our sources or watch any of the videos we mention? Go to ThisAnimalLIfe.com and click on Show Notes.  Erlich, Pippa. “Hot Docs 2020 Women Directors: Meet Pippa Ehrlich – “My Octopus Teacher” by Cody Corrall. Women and Hollywood. June 3, 2020. Erlich, Pippa, featured in “Why 'My Octopus Teacher' Directors Brought in an 'Octopus Psychologist' for Their Doc.” by Steve Pond. The Wrap. April 12, 2021. Foster, Craig. Interviewed in “Filmmaker Finds an Unlikely Underwater Friend in ‘My Octopus Teacher.’  Fresh Air, NPR, October 15, 2020. Foster, Craig, filmmaker. My Octopus Teacher, Netflix Documentary, 2020. Foster, Craig. Sea Change Project. Website. Godfrey-Smith, Peter.  Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness. Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux, 2016. Godfrey-Smith, Peter. Interviewed in “What Can an Octopus Teach Us About Consciousness?” When We Talk About Animals, podcast. Episode 2. “Legging it: Evasive octopus who has been allowed to look for love.” By Kathy Marksoz. Independent. February 14, 2009 Mather, Jennifer, featured in “Octopuses at Work and Play: Jennifer Mather and Cephalopod Cognition.” Women You Should Know. By Dale Debakcsy. Nov, 14, 2018. Mather, Jennifer. “What’s in an octopus’s mind?” Animal Sentience 26(1), 2019. Montgomery, Sy. The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness. Atria Books, 2015.  Nagel, Thomas. “What is it like to be a bat?” The Philosophical Review. 83 (4), 1974. [Link to Wikipedia page] Octolab TV: Octolab.Tv a series of videos of octopus experiments,  most of them an octopus with mirrors, an octopus reacting to a wig, and they take suggestions online. Scheel, David, featured in “Octopus: Making Contact,” PBS Nature, Season 38, Episode 1. Oct. 2019.  Von Uexküll, Jakob, Wikipedia page with Umwelt.

Is your cat capable of love? Of altruism? Will your cat fight to the death to protect you? Ann and Lisa tell stories of feline heroics. They prove, without a shadow of a doubt, cats love you more than you'll ever know. Want to follow up on our sources or watch any of the videos we mention? Go to ThisAnimalLIfe.com and click on Show Notes.  Adams, Sam, “Best of friends: Cat and dog meet at same time every day to enjoy a stroll,” Mirror, August 2015. Demirjian, Karoun, “Russia’s heroic cat Masha: She’s credited with saving an abandoned infant from winter’s deep freeze.” Washington Post, January 2015. Dictionary Corner: Iris Oxtabee was right! Anthropomorphism: The attribution of human characteristics or behavior to a god, animal, or object. Personification: the attribution of a personal nature or human characteristics to something nonhuman, or the representation of an abstract quality in human form. Dunn, Rob, Never Home Alone: From Microbes to Millipedes, Camel Crickets, and Honeybees, the Natural History of Where We Live. Basic Books, Illustrated edition, October 2019. Lang, Fabienne, “Cat Dies Defending Family from One of Australia’s Most Venomous Snakes.” Interesting Engineering, February 2021. Morell, Virginia, Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures. Crown Publishers; 1st edition, February 26, 2013. Strickland, Ashley, “Yes, cats really do bond with people, study says, even if they don’t always show it.” CNN September, 2019.

Also known as the Angel of Death, Oscar is a singularly unfriendly nursing home cat who somehow developed the habit of only cuddling up with the nearly departed. At this signal from the Grim Reaper of Cats, the staff alerted family, enabling them to say their goodbyes. Oscar's predictions have set the standard for medical practitioners, who still can't hope to match him. How does he do it? And, more intriguingly, why? What does Oscar want, and by extension, what do cats want? Want to follow up on our sources or watch any of the videos we mention? Go to ThisAnimalLIfe.com and click on Show Notes. References: Bradbury, Ray.  “The Veldt,” The Illustrated Man, Doubleday, 1951. Cat image (left) by Tambako the Jaguar on Flikr Creative Commons, 2010. De Waal, Frans. Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are? WW Norton, 2016. DiChario, Nick. "I am Mr. Baxter," This Animal Life, 2021. Dohen, Kathleen. “Cat’s ‘Sixth Sense’ Predicting Death.” Fetch by WebMD, July 25, 2007. Dosa, David, interviewed by Carol Kaufmann. “An Angel With Whiskers,” AARP Bulletin, July 10, 2010. Dosa, David, interviewed by Richard Schlesinger. “Eye to Eye: Oscar The Cat,” CBS News. July 27, 2007. David Dosa, Making Rounds with Oscar (The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat)  Hatchette Books, 2009. Dosa, David, featured in “Making Rounds With Oscar,” The Rhode Show, WPRI, YouTube, February 8, 2010. Eveleth, Rose. “Does This Cat Know When You’re Going to Die?” Smithsonian Magazine. September 20, 2012. Hearne, Vicki. “What It Is About Cats.” Adam’s Task Calling Animals By Name. Skyhorse, 1986. “Oscar the cat, Dr. Dosa, his new book, and the hazards of meeting the press,” The Providence Journal. Nagel, Thomas. “What is it like to be a bat?” [Wikipedia] The Philosophical Review. 83 (4), 1974.  “Oscar, the Nursing Home Cat Can Feel When People Are About to Die” by Spooky, Oddity Central. November 19, 2014. Szawarski, Piotr. “Classic cases revisited: Oscar the cat and predicting death,” National Center for Biotechnology Information. November 17, 2016. Thomas, Elizabeth Marshall. The Hidden Life of Dogs. Orion Publishing, 2003.

In this emotional conversation, Ann shares fears for her ferret (who isn't a rodent, thank you) and Lisa tells a Jane Goodall story about chimpanzees during a polio epidemic. They also ask, can dogs catch COVID? Can cats pass it on? It turns out animals do all the same things we do (almost) to prevent contagion during pandemics.   Want to follow up on our sources or watch any of the videos we mention? Go to ThisAnimalLIfe.com and click on Show Notes. References: Combs, Sydney, “These Wild Animals Also Practice Social Distancing to Avoid Getting Sick,” National Geographic, March 24, 2020 COVID-19 Facts for Pet Owners, American Veterinary Medical Association.  COVID-19 and Pets, Mayo Clinic. Daly, Natasha, “First Dog to Test Positive for COVID in the US Dies,” National Geographic JULY 29, 2020 de Ferrer, Marthe, “These Animals Already Self-Isolate to Stay Safe and Healthy. What Can We Learn From Them?”  Euronews, last updated: 13/05/2020 Goodall, Jane, In the Shadow of Man. Mariner Books, 2000. Greene, Meg,  Jane Goodall: A Biography. Prometheus Books, 2008. Hawley, Dana M. & Julia C. Buck,  “Animals Use Social Distancing to Avoid Disease” in Scientific American, August 1, 2020. Kwong, Emily,“1st U.S. Dog With COVID-19 Has Died, And There's A Lot We Still Don't Know,” Short Wave, NPR August 12, 2020. Paumgarten, Nick, “What Will Become of Pandemic Pets?” The New Yorker, June 21, 2021  “Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in Domestic Cats” New England Journal of Medicine, August 6, 2020.