Search results for ""Author Donald R. Griffin""

This text takes the reader on a guided tour of scientific research concerning animal mentality. Are animals consciously aware of anything, or are they merely living machines incapable of conscious thoughts or emotions? How can we tell? Such questions have fascinated the author, Donald Griffin, for decades, and his years spent at the forefront of research in animal cognition make him one of the leading behavioural ecologists of the 20th century. This revised and expanded version of his book moves beyond considerations of animal cognition to argue that scientists should and can investigate questions of animal consciousness. Using examples, ranging from chimpanzees to dolphins to birds and bees, Griffin demonstrates how communication between animals can serve as a "window" into what animals think and feel. He even shows how the reader can learn when there is no verbal communication from the animal, instead look at the actions the animal is taking, and how they respond to their surrounding and adapt or die. Griffin also considers the up-and-coming research on animal consciousness, its pros and cons, and explores the philosophical and ethical implications of the research.

Read more less

Over half a century of brilliant scientific detective work, the Nobel Prize-winning biologist Karl von Frisch learned how the world, looks, smells, and tastes to a bee. More significantly, he discovered their dance language and their ability to use the sun as a compass. Intended to serve as an accessible introduction to one of the most fascinating areas of biology, Bees (first published in 1950 and revised in 1971), reported the startling results of his ingenious and revolutionary experiments with honeybees.In his revisions, von Frisch updated his discussion about the phylogenetic origin of the language of bees and also demonstrated that their color sense is greater than had been thought previously. He also took into consideration the electrophysiological experiments and electromicroscopic observations that have supplied more information on how the bee analyzes polarized light to orient itself and how the olfactory organs on the bee's antennae function.Now back in print after more than two decades, this classic and still-accurate account of the behavior patterns and sensory capacities of the honeybee remains a book "written with a simplicity, directness, and charm which all who know him will recognize as characteristic of its author. Any intelligent reader, without scientific training, can enjoy it."—Yale Review

Read more less

Over half a century of brilliant scientific detective work, the Nobel Prize-winning biologist Karl von Frisch learned how the world, looks, smells, and tastes to a bee. More significantly, he discovered their dance language and their ability to use the sun as a compass. Intended to serve as an accessible introduction to one of the most fascinating areas of biology, Bees (first published in 1950 and revised in 1971), reported the startling results of his ingenious and revolutionary experiments with honeybees.In his revisions, von Frisch updated his discussion about the phylogenetic origin of the language of bees and also demonstrated that their color sense is greater than had been thought previously. He also took into consideration the electrophysiological experiments and electromicroscopic observations that have supplied more information on how the bee analyzes polarized light to orient itself and how the olfactory organs on the bee's antennae function.Now back in print after more than two decades, this classic and still-accurate account of the behavior patterns and sensory capacities of the honeybee remains a book "written with a simplicity, directness, and charm which all who know him will recognize as characteristic of its author. Any intelligent reader, without scientific training, can enjoy it."—Yale Review

Read more less