Animal Architects: Building and the Evolution of Intelligence - Hardcover

Gould, James L.; Gould, Carol Grant

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0465027822 ISBN 13: 9780465027828

Verlag: Basic Books, 2007

Inhaltsangabe

From two of the world's most distinguished experts in animal behaviour, this book offers a radical, creative, and accessible new approach to understanding animal minds through the structures they build. Animal behaviour has long been a battleground between the competing claims of nature and nurture, with the possible role of cognition in behaviour as a recent addition to this debate. There is an untapped trove of behavioural data that can tell us a great deal about how the animals draw from these neural strategies: the structures animals build provide a superb window on the workings of the animal mind. "Building Minds" examines animal architecture across a range of species, from those whose blueprints are largely innate (such as spiders and their webs) to those whose challenging structures seem to require intellectual insight, planning, and even aesthetics (such as birds' nests, or beavers' dams). Beginning with instinct and the simple homes of solitary insects, James and Carol Gould move on to conditioning; the "cognitive map" and how it evolved; and the role of planning and insight. Finally, they reflect on what animal building tells us about the nature of human intelligence - showing why humans, unlike many animals, need to build their castles in the air.

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Über die Autorin bzw. den Autor

James L Gould is Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University and one of the world's leading experts in animal behaviour. With science writer Carol Grant Gould he has written The Animal Mind, Sexual Selection, and The Honey Bee, all considered classic books on animal behaviour for lay audiences. They live in Princeton, New Jersey.

Details zur Ausgabe

• Verlag: Basic Books
• Erscheinungsdatum: 2007
• Sprache: Englisch
• ISBN 10: 0465027822
• ISBN 13: 9780465027828
• Einband: Tapa dura
• Anzahl der Seiten: 336
• Kontakt zum Hersteller: Nicht verfügbar
• Verantwortliche Person: Nicht verfügbar