Description

Most of us view animals through a very narrow lens seeing only bits and pieces of beings that seem mostly peripheral to our lives However whether animals are building a shelter seducing a mate or inventing a new game animals creative choices affect their social cultural and environmental worlds

The Creative Lives of Animals offers listeners intimate glimpses of creativity in the lives of animals from elephants to alligators to ants Drawing on a growing body of scientific research Carol Gigliotti unpacks examples of creativity demonstrated by animals through the lens of the creative process an important component of creative behavior and offers new thinking on animal intelligence emotion and selfawareness With examples of the elaborate dams built by beavers or the lavishly decorated bowers of bowerbirds Gigliotti provides a new perspective on animals as agents in their own lives as valuable contributors to their world and ours and as guides in understanding how creativity may contribute to conserving the natural world Presenting a powerful argument for the importance of recognizing animals as individuals and as creators of a healthy biodiverse world this book offers insights into both the established and emerging questions about the creativity of animals