Wag the Human. Review of Stephen Budiansky’s The Truth About Dogs. Did we domesticate the dog or vice versa? ”If biologists weren’t victim to the

same blindness that afflicts us all, they probably wouldn’t

hesitate to classify dogs as social parasites.” The reviewer has a sentimental complaint that “when Budiansky deconstructs the

so-called love and loyalty that dogs have for their owners,

he reduces it all to selfish biology.” New York Times And Britannica.com has this interesting review article considering the range of animal intellect and emotion from the vantage point of several recent books. We do seem to be seeing a reawakening of interest in ethology, a generation after Conrad Lorenz. “Through

evolutionary theory, genetics, neurophysiology, and

experimental procedures, many scientists are providing

strong evidence that animals feel and think in ways akin

to humans.” The controversial Peter Singer perhaps takes this furthest. His Great Ape Project seeks to “include the nonhuman great apes within the community of equals by

granting them the basic moral and legal protection that only human beings currently enjoy, … to work for the removal of the

nonhuman great apes from the category of property, and for their immediate inclusion within the

category of persons.

Our long-term goal is a United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Great Apes.”