TREE vol. 6, no.

6, June 1991

Animal Minds

Cognitive Ethology: The Minds of Other that there was already a plethora of more demanding concerning evi-
Animals (Essaysin Honor of Donald R. Griffin) data suggesting the existence of dence of other minds than we are
thinking and consciousness in ani- in other areas of scientific inquiry.
edited by C.A. Ristau, Lawrence mals, scientifically minded people Furthermore, we should demand that
Erlbaum Associates, 1991. f36.00 could also use rare observations and sceptics about animal minds provide
hbk, f16.50 pbk (xx + 332 pages) anecdotes to inform and motivate viable alternative explanations for
ISBN 0 8058 025 1 7 further study without being embar- their positions and not simply dis-
rassed at these slips of rigor. pense with animal minds because
This is a timely and important book in Ristau’s concluding chapter (which they are difficult to study (see Yoerg
the ever-growing literature concern- can actually be read first and last) and Kamil), because they do not
ing evolutionary and comparative nicely summarizes and juxtaposes make sense when viewed from
cognitive ethology (defined broadly the contributions of her chosen humans’ perspectives, or because
by Ristau as ‘an exploration of the authors. Although the species and cognitive or folk-psychological expla-
mental experiences of animals, par- topics considered in the book are nu- nations have been wrong in the past.
ticularly as they behave in their natu- merous and diverse and the issues Michel points out that folk psychol-
ral environment in the course of their are complex, many of the essays ogy can be wrong regarding humans
normal lives’) and the analyses of concern the same general areas of or pets, but this does not mean that it
other (including human) minds from inquiry. These include: the influence is always wrong.
an interdisciplinary perspective (see of behaviorism on how humans Given the incredible amount of in-
also Refs l-8). have viewed animal minds (Beer, terest in cognitive ethology and the
The 13 chapters that comprise the Burghardt); the utility of common accumulation of exciting and detailed
two parts of this volume (Part I: sense and folk psychology in inter- empirical results since Griffin’s book,
Theoretical perspectives; Part II: Evi- preting and explaining other minds it seems amazing that anyone could
dence from the laboratory and field) (Beer, Bennett, Michel; see also Ref. eschew cognitive explanationslo or
are concerned mainly with non- 12); intentionality (in the philo- conclude that animals (and even
human animals (hereafter called ‘ani- sophical sense 2*3,Fr7; Beer, Bennett, prelinguistic children) are not con-
mals’) ranging from snakes to birdsto Burghardt, Ristau); possible relation- sciousg. For example, Colganl” claims
various mammals. Ristau points out ships between intentional behavior that ‘There can be no historical doubt
that the authors are people who have and language as humans conceive it, that behaviourism has advanced eth-
been associated with or influenced by social communication and deception ology as a science, whereas the
Griffin and that they do not represent (Ristau, Cheney and Seyfarth, Marler, methods advocated by cognitivists
a broad sample of those working in Karakashian, Gyger); communication have yet to prove their worth. Until
cognitive ethology. The essays vary and cognition (Griffin, Pepperberg, mental concepts are clarified and
in quality and some are far longer and Smith); the roles of anecdotes their need justified by convincing
more wordy than necessary. How- and critical anthropomorphism data, cognitive ethology is no ad-
ever, they all convey important mess- (Burghardt) in motivating analyses of vance over the anecdotalism and
ages that should make those animal minds and in the interpret- anthropomorphism which character-
sceptical of animal cognitive abilities ation of evidence; and identification ized interest in animal behaviour
(asking if animals think, if animals - of the important questions in cogni- a century ago, and thus should be
including prelinguistic childreng-are tive ethology and the nature of evi- eschewed.’ While these sceptical
even conscious5, or if the field of dence for the existence of animal stances seem narrow or inconsistent
cognitive ethology is a worthwhile thinking and consciousness (Bennett, to me and to others1f5,‘*, perhaps they
endeavor that has produced useful Jolly, Yoerg and Kamil, Ristau). All will serve to make our investigations
resultslO) rethink their positions, and highlight the importance of watching into animal minds even more
provide proponents of the field of animals in their natural habitats and rigorous and convincing. They
cognitive ethology with ammunition taking the animals’ points of view. should, for the presence and force
to continue their efforts. One area that is only touched on of cognitive ethology is not going to
Of course, anyone currently work- concerns relationships between cog- disappear uncontested. Nor should
ing in cognitive ethology has been nitive ethology and ethics - human biologists, psychologists, anthropol-
greatly influenced by Griffin. Some obligations to the animals that they ogists and philosophers stop talking
may argue that cognitive ethology study and with whom they share the and listening carefully to one another
has been around for a long time, cer- planet. Indeed, Griffin has been taken and to the animals in which they are
tainly longer than the 15 years since to task for being silent on such interested.
Griffin’s 1976 book The Question issues12. Burghardt recognizes the
of Animal Awareness” rekindled strong link between cognitive ethol- Marc Bekoff
interest in animal minds. However, it ogy and animal welfare, and Jolly
seems clear to most that Griffin, a (and others5*8,‘2 who have spent a Deptof Environmental, Population, and Organismic
scientist of great renown for his good deal of time studying animals) Biology, Universityof Colorado,Boulder,
classic work in animal navigation and stress that we simply cannot ignore CO80309-0334, USA
behavioral physiology, provided the our moral and ethical responsibilities References
incentive for those shy scientists in- to other species. Perhaps we need to 1 Griffin, D.R. (1984) Animal Thinking,
terested in animal minds to come out consider the animals’ perspective Harvard University Press
of the closet, to speak their own more closely and err on their side 2 Dennett, D.C. (1987) The Intentional
minds on relevant matters, and to when we are uncertain about their Stance, MIT Press
pursue important questions using capacities for suffering5,8,12,13. 3 Montefiore, A. and Noble, D., eds
(1989) Goals, No-Goals, and Own Goals:
methods that had proven successful Sceptics, agnostics and propo-
A Debate on Goal-Directed and
in other areas of behavioral and cog- nents will all find much of interest in Intentional Behaviour, Unwin Hyman
nitive science. And this they have Ristau’s collection. As Griffin points 4 Bekoff, M. and Jamieson, D., eds
done, as evidenced by this and other out, we must be careful about apply- (1990) interpretation and Explanation in
works’-*. Furthermore, Griffin em- ing a double standard to research in the Study of Animal Behavior (Vols I and
phasized that in addition to the fact animal cognition -we should not be II), Westview

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TREE vol. 6, no. 6, June 1991

5 Bekoff, M. and Jamieson, D. (1990)
Perspec. Ethel. 9, l-47
6 Cheney, D.L. and Seyfarth, R.M. (1990)
How Monkeys See the World, University
of Chicago Press
7 Whiten, A., ed. (1991) NaturalTheories
of Mind: Evolution, Development and
Simulation of Everyday Mindreading,
Blackwell
8 Rachels, J. (1990) Created From 11 Griffin, D.R. (1976) The Question of
Animals: The Moral Implications of Animal Awareness, Rockefeller
Darwinism, Oxford University Press University Press
9 Dewart, L. (1989) fvolution and 12 Rollin, B.E. (1989) The Unheeded Cry:
Consciousness: The Role of Speech in Animal Consciousness, Animal Pain and
the Origin and Development of Human Science, Oxford University Press
Nature, University of Toronto Press 13 Goodall, J. (1990) Through a Window:
10 Colgan, P. (1989) Animal Motivation, My Thirty Years with the Chimpanzees of
Chapman & Hail Gombe, Houghton Mifflin

Rainforest Biology

The Healing Forest Amazonia, the pace of habitat de- medics, parasitologists and pharma-
struction and alteration, though cologists as well, but phytochemists
by Richard E. Schultes and Robert F.
rapid, has been outstripped by the and anthropologists - who could
Raffauf, Dioscorides Press (Historicat,
erosion of indigenous culture due properly be expected to benefit from
Ethno- and Economic Botany Series,
to contact, missionary activity, im- the catalogue - are not catered for by
Vol. 2)‘ 7990. $59.95 hbk (vii + 484
ported disease and genocide. Thus, indexes. This is a surprising (and un-
pages) ISBN 0 931746 14 3
while most if not all of the subjects of necessary) omission, since this sub-
this book - plant species with med- ject demands the interaction of all
Four Neotropical Rainforests
icinal and toxic properties - are ex- these disciplines (see Ref. l), and it
edited by Alwyn H. Gentry, Yale Uni- tant and often widely distributed, the detracts from an otherwise admir-
versity Press, 1991. f42.50/$66.50 hbk diverse and intricate folklore sur- able effort to summarize current
li + 627 pages) ISBN 0 300 04722 3 rounding their use has dwindled knowledge.
along with the fortunes of the hun- Four Neotropical Rainforests de-
How little do we know about tropical dreds of tribes inhabiting the region. scribes and appraises the floristic,
forests? Tropical biologists can be Schultes’ and Raffauf’s field tech- faunistic and ecological work carried
properly enthusiastic about the ad- niques are simple but painstaking out to date at four of the most famous
vances of the last few decades, but and (though they nowhere admit it) field stations in the neotropics: La
books on the subject have a peculiar often arduous: weeks and months Selva (Costa Rica), Barro Colorado
tendency to highlight yawning gaps traversing the forest by river and Island (Panama), Cocha Cashu (Manu
in our knowledge - gaps that, be- on foot, extensive herbarium col- National Park, Peru) and the Minimal
cause of the relentless fragmentation lections, exhaustive quizzing (often Critical Size of Ecosystems Project
and loss of subject matter, may never through interpreters) of forest tribes- (Manaus, Brasil). These sites - most
be filled. The Healing Forestand Four people, documentation of local especially the two Central American
Neotropical Rainforests are impress- names and uses of plants, and simple ones- have between them generated
ive both for the information they chemical tests on plant specimens for several thousand publications over
contain and the ignorance they inten- the presence of alkaloids. The result the years, representing much of the
tionally reveal. is a catalogue of 1516 plant species, impetus of tropical biology in general
These two volumes spring from listed in alphabetical order by family, and neotropical biology in particular.
very different traditions. The Healing each entry containing brief details As emphasized by the editor, Alwyn
forest is a work of the tropical ex- of taxonomy, distribution, pharma- H. Gentry, there are many other neo-
plorer-an accumulation of data from ceutical properties and secondary tropical sites where valuable long-
many sources scattered over a wide compounds where known, indigen- term research is being carried out;
and remote area. Four Neotropical ous names and uses, and further bib- these four sites were selected be-
Rainforests, by contrast, summarizes liographic sources. The standard and cause of their similarity in terms of
intensive research carried out in the comprehensivity of the information altitude, general physiognomy and
vicinity of permanent field stations. is inevitably patchy, as the authors the range of research hitherto
Both books, however, are exemplars readily admit. For many of the undertaken.
of the essential ingredient of tropical species listed, Schultes and Raffauf The goal of the volume, which con-
forest research: long-term effort. The have been able to furnish only a tains the work of 36 leading auth-
former encapsulates the results of couple of lines containing a name orities, is to focus on the similarities
almost half a century of fieldwork on and a single indigenous use; for and differences between these four
the part of the principal author, while well-researched species such as Ery- rainforest sites, and to highlight the
the four sites discussed in the latter throxylon coca, the entry can occupy distance that we still have to go in
have been studied, by innumerable several pages. One cannot know, of understanding how these systems
researchers, for between 12 and 65 course, how many species have been function. One could argue that this
years. missed altogether; the authors sus- comparative approach is itself a
Richard Evans Schultes is one of pect that their compilation covers symptom of how little we know. It has
the world’s foremost ethnobotanists. only a part of the ethnopharmaco- only recently become possible to
With his coauthor, Robert Raffauf, he logical wealth of the region, and adopt such an approach at all, yet it is
has concentrated his explorations in much of the local knowledge may the crucial stage in the transition from
the northwestern tributaries of the already have been lost forever. descriptive to analytical study.
Amazon - mainly in Colombia but As a work of reference, The Healing Following some introductory chap-
also in Ecuador, Peru and Brasil. Forest is mainly a botanist’s book. ters on the history and basic descrip-
Much of this area, of more than Granted, the index of symptoms, dis- tion of the sites themselves, the book
a million square kilometres, is still eases and treatments that the authors is divided into sections on major taxa
densely forested. As in the rest of provide will certainly be useful to (plants, mammals, birds, reptiles and

197