Reptiles are fascinating nonhuman animal (animal) beings. Many people
dismiss or underestimate the depth of their social, cognitive, and emotional
lives and don't realize that they're not "easy pets" and that they greatly
suffer when held captive.1 I'm especially pleased that the University of
Tennessee's Dr. Gordon Burghardt, a co-author of a recent encyclopedic book
titled The Secret Social Lives of Reptiles, could answer a few questions
about this landmark work.2,3Here's what he had to say.
Marc Bekoff: Why did you and your co-authors write The Secret Social Lives of
Reptiles?
We all work on different groups of reptiles, but have been appalled by the
widespread ignorance of non-avian reptile behavior and the dismissal of the
view that they can have complex cognitive, emotional, and social lives. We
decided that we should bring together the great amount of recent research on
reptile behavior that is upending many assumptions, even by other behavioral
scientists.
Please read the ENTIRE INTERVIEW HERE (PDF)
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