Clever as a Fox: Animal Intelligence and What It Can Teach Us about Ourselves [Paperback]

Sonja I. Yoerg (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0674008707 | ISBN-13: 978-0674008700 | Publication Date: April 15, 2002

Dogs are smarter than cats, dolphins and chimps are more clever than both, and we who determine the rankings top the scale--or so we think. But are we thinking clearly? To appreciate the mental abilities of the owl and the pussycat, the tortoise and the hare, requires a commitment to unraveling the nature of intelligence--a tricky and controversial proposition that Sonja Yoerg sets out to explore in this learned, lucid, and entertaining book about our complicated, often erroneous notions about animal intelligence.

With forays into evolutionary biology, behavioral science, and comparative psychology, Clever as a Fox reveals the promise and pitfalls inherent in any attempt to assess animal intelligence. Along with the concepts we deploy to define and compare intelligence, Yoerg looks at the expectations and prejudices that cloud our judgment of the animal mind, perceptions shaped as much by Aesop and Disney as by direct observation of our fellow creatures. And because such perceptions are inextricably linked with judgments of value--ideas about animal mentality have much to do with which species end up on our laps and which on our plates--this deeply revealing look at how we think about animal intelligence should help us use our own intelligence more wisely.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

By questioning our inadequate traditional definitions of intelligence, ethologist Yoerg, project director for the Captive Breeding Program at the University of California, leads the reader through a lively, literate book, loaded with case studies, on animal behavior, intellect and instinct. Too often, he argues, our perceptions and understanding of animals, and our feelings for and against their different ilk, are linked to cultural prejudices. We have an affinity for those we deem closer to us on the evolutionary ladder, and tend to grant primates and other mammals a higher degree of understanding and emotion than other orders of animals. Birds, reptiles, amphibians, arachnids and insects are too often perceived merely as instinct-driven living mechanisms, even though, as Yoerg points out, the tree of evolution has sprouted numerous, diverse forms of survival-related intelligence. With numerous examples based on scientific experiments and observation, combined with a wealth of anecdotal personal experiences from North America, Africa and Europe, Yoerg challenges our comfortable beliefs. This is a fast-paced read, studded with insightful perspectives ranging from behavioral authorities (Robert Yerkes, B.F. Skinner) to literary lights (George Orwell, Wallace Stevens). Specialists with an interest in ethology and animal psychology will benefit as much from this intriguing stroll through the kingdom of animal intellectual ability as the general reader. (Mar.)
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Why are we skeptical of the fact that an animal might have a better memory than we do? Yoerg uses this initial skepticism about the intellectual abilities of animals to explore the study of comparative animals' intelligence. The idea that intelligence is a "monolithic capacity, [and] that differences among species are always quantitative, variations in amount rather than kind" is a pervasive belief and one that this book does an excellent job of refuting. Different species have differing needs for intelligence, with some extremely successful species operating on fewer neurons than they have legs. In her insightful overview of this complex field, the author quotes studies of animals as disparate as crabs, primates, parrots, and humans to make her main point: there are different kinds of intelligence, evolved in the face of different environmental pressures. Leavened with humor, Yoerg's clear, logical, and well-written discussion of a complex subject will lead even the casual reader into a much better understanding of the many answers to the question "what is intelligence?" Nancy Bent
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (April 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674008707
• ISBN-13: 978-0674008700
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,918,425 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Animals and their tireless human examiners, March 11, 2001

By 

Eileen Galen (USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Clever As a Fox : Animal Intelligence And What It Can Teach Us About Ourselves (Hardcover)

In this accessible and smart book, Sonja Yoerg writes that as a child in Vermont she "spent a lot of time lying on the rooty ground under shady trees, looking up through the overlapping layers of impossible green," observing bugs and plants, watching and waiting with an eagle eye, preoccupied during summers by the thrilling specifics of the natural world, until fall, when "all would flame out in red, yellow, orange, take the dive of Newton's apple, and contribute to the leaf pile goal line for touch football." Even as a kid she had the instincts of a scientist - and likely played touch football, too. She brings this brainy, sturdy, and playful approach to this book, too. She is self-aware but not self-absorbed. It's a pleasure. This is not a polemic either in support of or against animal rights. It is a serious conversation regarding the yardsticks used to define and then assess animal intelligence.

Dr. Yoerg is especially interested in the origins and the meaning of the persistent human urge to order the animal world. What is animal intelligence?, she asks, and then, even more importantly, Why has it been so important to our society to measure it? She asserts that the ancient (and contemporary) urge to design a hierarchy of intelligence ( usually God first, man next, then apes, and so on) says more about us than about the animals that behavioral and biological research has (often foolishly) refused to observe in context, but instead has sent through mazes, tested in boxes, and hypothesized in a variety of ways over time - for a variety of reasons. Sometimes deeply-held beliefs are turned on their ear. For example it is widely assumed that sheep flocks respond to herding dogs, who in turn are responding to the rancher's whistle. But Gujarti shepherds in India "whistle just like their British counterparts" while the dogs often sleep. The sheep respond to the shepherd's whistle. The dogs protect the flocks from predators - but the sheep "herd" themselves.

Dr. Yoerg supplies the reader with some surprising tidbits. "During the Middle Ages, all sorts of creatures were convicted of criminal behavior and tried by the courts," and later, "In 1386 a sow was convicted of the murder of a child and was led to the public execution dressed in man's clothes." (pp. 71-2) Her point is that human opinions regarding the animal world have been a highly mutable thing - subject to religion, politics, economics, and emotion.

Dr. Yoerg offers a reasonably detailed historic overview of this contentious field - from Aristotle to the middle ages to Darwin, the behaviorists, the Germans and Gestalt theory as advanced by Wolfgang Kohler, cognitive psychology, and many more. In addition, rather than being a collection of 'things you might not have known about animals,' it is an orderly and thoughtful discussion.

There is sly humor (why doesn't a dog use a mirror to right an inside-out ear?) and wealth of interesting information here - why some animals (the rat, the crow, the coyote and the fox for example) are comparatively unpopular in the US - and are reputed to be 'cunning,' 'wily,' 'crafty,' and 'sneaky,' whereas others (dogs, cats, squirrels) are more often described as 'clever,' 'smart,' or 'cute.' (Disney and Warner Brothers and TV have a lot to do with it, Dr. Yoerg asserts.) Animal research - and the fact that our pets kill other animals. (Quoting another writer, A.H. Herzog: "If each pet cat in the US ate only two mice, chipmunks, or baby birds each year, the number of animals slaughtered by pets would greatly exceed the number of animals used for research.") Neoteny - the existence of juvenile features (big eyes, round head - the cuteness factor) in the adult of the species- is a contributor, too, in human opinions about the species. The dicey matter of different cultures' treatment of the dog is discussed. Notions of love and attachment - and a convincing send up of behaviorism - are included..

Dr. Yoerg has taken a wide array of material and organized it and presented it in an accessible and lively way. She ranges widely and well. The bibliography names over a hundred books and articles, and the index is excellent. She comes to no sweeping conclusions. Instead she has begun a variety of thoughtful and thought-provoking conversations. She's a terrific teacher. A great read.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "My dog's smarter than your dog...he's part of our family too!", November 25, 2005

By 

Russell A. Rohde MD "Owl" (West Covina, California USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Clever as a Fox: Animal Intelligence and What It Can Teach Us about Ourselves (Paperback)

"Clever As A Fox," Sonja Yoerg, VA, Bloomsbury, 2001 ISBN 1-58234-115-X, HC, 208 pg. plus 14 pg. Bibio., 6 pg. Index. 9 1/2" x 6 1/4"

Dr.Yoerg (PhD in bio-psych., Berkeley) has researched, written & lectured on behavioral dynamics of animals. The book's title is apropos to it's contents as she discourses in well-executed prose -- the "Chain of Being" relative to the 'scala naturae' of Man's perceived cognitive abilities of animals in great depth -- covering species we've come to know and love the best: dogs, cats, birds, pigs, but also frogs, fish, foxes, finches, and the mammal "Flipper" to mention a few.

The author has wonderful command of writing, using those splendid explanatives, idioms and speach idiosyncrasies which can make mundane observations exciting & memorable, and it is testimony to the insight she has into the instinct, intelligience & learning patterns of animals both within their clan, species and between species, & the treatise is sprinkled with worthy commentaries on anthropomorphism & historical perspectives on the ever-changing study of the domain of animal behavior & cognition as it may apply to humans. It is a pleasant read.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Funny, smart book, March 20, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Clever As a Fox : Animal Intelligence And What It Can Teach Us About Ourselves (Hardcover)

Yoerg's intellectual history of the study of animal intelligence is informative and witty. She's tough on everyone--from behaviorists to cognitive science types to animal rights kooks--because she seems to want more than pat answers to the questions of who's smart and who isn't. There are plenty of animal stories for readers who enjoy them (who doesn't?) and plenty of meaty issues for those who like a intellectual battles. Altogether a readable, clever book.