We like to think we are a very special species. We base this claim not just on our intelligence, but on the richness of our emotional and social lives — yet it is a claim that is increasingly hard to sustain. Just as science has revealed new depths of animal intelligence and emotional capacity, it is learning that animal social behavior is far more complex than we once thought.
Ashley Ward is a British-born animal behaviorist, now a professor at the University of Sydney. In a forthcoming book, he charts what scientists now know about the social lives of animals, from swarming krill and flocks of birds all the way up the scale of relatability to elephants and, our closest relatives, chimpanzees. By understanding social behavior in animals, he suggests, we can learn about ourselves.
