Interview: A Scientist Who Probes The Rich Inner Lives of Animals

Ecologist Carl Safina has made his name studying and writing about the world’s oceans and the creatures that inhabit them. Now, Safina has turned his attention to the fascinating and controversial topic of the inner lives of animals, exploring, as he puts it, “the incredible shimmering world of nuance that many of these creatures experience in their lives with one another.” In an interview with Yale Environment 360 about his recently published book, Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel, Safina explains why it’s vital to our own humanity to more deeply empathize with wild creatures and sharply criticizes some research on animal behavior, saying it has led to a flawed understanding of the natural world. “I bristle at the idea that an animal can ‘pass a test’ administered by human beings,” says Safina. “It’s irrelevant whether the animal corresponds to your concept of something.”

Read the interview.