Beautiful Minds: The Parallel Lives of Great Apes and Dolphins |  | Authors: Maddalena Bearzi, Craig B. Stanford
Publisher: Harvard University Press
Category: Book
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Rating:  14 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 368
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 4.6 x 1.4
ISBN: 0674027817
Dewey Decimal Number: 599.881513
EAN: 9780674027817
Publication Date: April 30, 2008
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Product Description
Apes and dolphins: primates and cetaceans. Could any creatures appear to be more different? Yet both are large-brained intelligent mammals with complex communication and social interaction. In the first book to study apes and dolphins side by side, Maddalena Bearzi and Craig B. Stanford, a dolphin biologist and a primatologist who have spent their careers studying these animals in the wild, combine their insights with compelling results. Beautiful Minds explains how and why apes and dolphins are so distantly related yet so cognitively alike and what this teaches us about another large-brained mammal: Homo sapiens. Noting that apes and dolphins have had no common ancestor in nearly 100 million years, Bearzi and Stanford describe the parallel evolution that gave rise to their intelligence. And they closely observe that intelligence in action, in the territorial grassland and rainforest communities of chimpanzees and other apes, and in groups of dolphins moving freely through open coastal waters. The authors detail their subjects’ ability to develop family bonds, form alliances, and care for their young. They offer an understanding of their culture, politics, social structure, personality, and capacity for emotion. The resulting dual portrait—with striking overlaps in behavior—is key to understanding the nature of “beautiful minds.” (20080128)
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
 A biased review June 19, 2008
Giovanni Bearzi (Italy)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
My review will be biased and I will keep it short, as I happen to be the brother of one of the Authors of "Beautiful Mind" (Maddalena).
Being myself a scientist who has been working on cetaceans for over 20 years, and an author and reviewer of several scientific publications, I am naturally inclined to strong criticism when I read this kind of literature.
And yet, I really like this book. It is elegantly written, full of intriguing stories and ideas, intellectually rich and even good-looking and pleasant to handle in its present novel-like format.
Craig and Maddalena chose a fascinating but also challenging subject and they managed to unfold it with a clear and understandable language and lots of real-life examples.
Their love for the animals gets across every single line of text, but there is no trace of romanticism, pietism or new age. Instead, the reader finds a clear conservation message and a vibrant call to ensure the protection and well-being of these magnificent and highly-evolved creatures.
Five stars.
Fascinating Look Into the Minds of the Cetaceans and Apes Without Anthropomorphizing June 19, 2008
Frederick S. Goethel (Central Valley, CA)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Somewhere along the evolutionary path, cetaceans and the great apes parted ways and headed in different evolutionary directions...one to the forests and one to the oceans. And, that was quite some time ago; around 50 million years, and yet the two groups share many common threads behaviorally. How is that possible?
The answer lies in the development of the brain and adaptations to the surrounding environments of each of the species involved. Chimpanzees have adapted to forest life in one way, while gorillas another. The same can be said for dolphins as opposed to orcas and other cetacean species.
This book is an eloquently written look into the minds of the great apes, the cetaceans when compared to humans. It manages to enlighten while being highly entertaining and avoiding the trap of anthropomorphism that is so common when comparing animal species to humans. I would highly recommend this book to all, with the exception of staunch creationists, as it will make you look at dolphins and apes in an entirely new light.
Enrich your mind! August 13, 2008
Fumio Ogoshi
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
As a scientist and educator, I found this book to be a very satisfying and enjoyable read, in terms of the scientific content, educational value, and the fascinating stories that are told. I would recommend this book for the scientist/non-scientist, evolutionist/creationist (it will enlighten you, you will learn more about yourself, for sure!). The book focuses on the cetaceans (dolphins) and apes (mainly chimpanzees) of course, but it will make you think about the human mind, how similar we can be to both groups, not in a genetic or anatomical sense but in terms of our behaviors. I highly recommend this book, it is rare to find a work that combines the introspective/contemplative side of science, with sound field science (as both authors are highly respected and prolific researchers in their respective fields).
Science for all September 9, 2008
Brian J. Johnson (San Francisco, Nayarit, Mexico)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
After nearly 20 years as an environmental scientist, regulator and educator, I am truly excited to have encountered a book written with such elegance and obvious scientific rigor regarding a subject that is both fascinating and timely. Great apes and cetaceans are species which have long captivated human imagination and curiosity, and Bearzi and Stanford provide ample reason why this connection is warranted. I do hope this pair author further readings of such quality and accessibility.
We must do more to conserve the homes, ecosystems, of apes and dolphins! August 26, 2009
Simon Laub (Aarhus, Denmark, Europe)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When the sun rises in the east over the Gombe national park in Tanzania,
the chimpanzees wake up, pull themselves upright
in their nests and look out over the forest.
Each tree with a sleeping ape or two.
The scenery seems very familiar to us. And the book
is filled which such wonderful imagery.
Along with a lot of facts. Which again
hammers home the similarities: A chimp life-cycle is almost human.
They reach puberty in their early teen years.
Females have offspring at around 15. They live to be around 45 in the wild.
Famed Jane Goodall have studied them for more than 40 years,
and have reported that they even share their dark side with us.
E.g. she has reported chimp infanticide, cannibalism and warfare.
Some sides of chimp "society" too dark for primetime tv you
kind of wonder? Certainly, I dont recall seeing TV broadcasts
on what it actually means to be a brutalized chimp female?
I.e. life among the chimpanzees is male dominated.
The topranking female is subordinate to even
lowliest male. Accordingly, females are brutalized
for sex, if they do not produce.
A bit better among the bonobos though. Where bonobo females are bit more clever,
forming coalitions that prevent males from exerting power. Even
attacking and badly injuring males. Unheard of
among chimpanzees.
Bearzi and Stanford also gives us a lot
of detail about chimp hunting. Another of these animals almost
human activities? I.e. Chimpanzees go hunting,
both for nutritional and social purposes. If
the hunt is successful, sharing meat allows the chimps
to build friendships. It is all about the politics. Sharing meat is an act with
a clear message - not only will a male not share with a rival, but will
use it to show how unimportant the rival is.
Very human in this readers mind. And come to think
of it, wasnt meat eating one of the things that made us human
2 - 3 million years ago?
On it goes. Chimps go on (war) patrols to see if there is any intruders in
their area. Not exactly completely ordered patrols though,
there is sex, squabbling and mounching food as they go,
but still it is a patrol. If the patrol meets
a lonely chimp from another camp, the lone chimp is beaten terriblely.
If not murdered.
And then of course - the apes uses tools. We
have seen various tool use on tv, such as sticks for eating termites
etc.
Stanford gives us a new tool use among apes: Females in some
populations of orangutang employ sticks as auto erotic tools for
sexual stimulation...sisters be free...
And great apes (Chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas and orangutang)
are not the only animals who use tools, solve problems, cooperate,
fight each other and much more. The cetaceans (Dolphins and whales)
are also quite clever. And the other half of this book
is about them (Leaving the elephants out seems to this reader
a shortcoming).
Again, dolphin lives are sort of familiar. A dolphin continue to
breed well into its forties and live into its fifties.
And dolphins dont exactly use their large brains
(Much of the dolphin brain has to do with
making and understanding sounds, both vocal and sonar) just to
save human swimmers in distress. They also have darker sides.
I.e. Dolphin sexuality makes Sodom and Gomorrah
look kind of civilised. In the Dolphin world it is not unusual to see
infant males trying to mount their mothers, young males
sexually harressing older males. older males mounting calves,
or adult males mounting other males to express dominance.
And it is just another day in the office
(sea) when two males gang up on a female and bully her to mate.
The book gives all the gory details.
To say the least. Promiscuity seem to be the rule among the
dolpins, as it is with the apes.
As for apes and humans, dolphins can use their large brains to cope with
increasingly complex social relations. Where each individual must
remember rivalries, debts, and credits within the group. And where the ability
to manipulate the group is what makes an individual successful.
Luckily the dolphins are not just about the politics.
Bearzi gives us wonderful stories of dolphins simulating smoking (!),
and helping with (their) tank cleaning.
Thats where you kind of want to go dolphin and live with them.
But communication is still difficult though. Sure, according to neurophysiologist
John Lilly, we should learn how to communicate with the dolphins
to prepare for communication with intelligent life
in outer space. Still, dophin language isnt all that easy to break.
Obviously they think about sonar sounds we cant hear,
and swim where we would drown, and have no hands
to make gestures (if messages dont come accross with speech).
And who knows, maybe dolphin language isnt all that rich
afterall. Certainly, chimp language is so limited that it
compares with the language of a two year old child.
Still Kanzi (bonobo) can follow complex
commands like - go to the refrigerator in the next room,
and bring the red ball on the top shelf.
But the book could have given us much more on what
the dolphins really are thinking about. But probably only
the dolphins know.
Something is going on though.
Mark the body of a subject animal with paint,
and encourage the animal to look in a mirror,
then observe the reactions. Chimps, gorillas,
bonobos, orangutans and dolphins and killer whales
all showed a positive self recognition response to the paint.
The book ends by telling us that the dolphins have
been here for a long time. If brain size is expressed in relation
to body size, the humans are at the top, but going back 2 million years
and using this measurement the brainiest animal was not
a hominid, but a dolphin.
But now the seas are increasingly becoming polluted.
And overcrowded - Sure, Humans like to swim with dolphins. Its big business,
but from the dolphins point of view it might not
be all that great - they might be more pleased with
just relaxing in clean oceans - alone.
Not much better for apes. With the forest being cut down
and little human respect for the needs of apes.
Obviously, after having read a book like this,
you would think more should be done to protect the animals. It sounds
a lot like murder actually, what is going on around the world.
The only good thing of course is that there are people like
Bearzi and Stanford out there to stop it.
And make the world a better place - also
for apes and dolphins.
-Simon
Showing reviews 1-5 of 14
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