The Secret Social Lives of Reptiles By J. Sean Doody, Vladimir Dinets, Gordon M. Burghardt
From All-Creatures.org Book Reviews/Interviews

Author: J. Sean Doody, Vladimir Dinets, Gordon M. Burghardt

Interviewed by Marc Bekoff, Psychology Today / Animal Emotions

Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press

social reptiles
The Secret Social Lives of Reptiles
Available at Johns Hopkins University Press
ISBN-10‏ : ‎ 1421440679
ISBN-13‏ : ‎ 978-1421440675

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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