Animal Quotes by Frans de Waal

When it comes to social interaction, the chimpanzees appear to be just as intelligent as we are.

— Frans de Waal

The more self-aware an animal is, the more empathetic it tends to be.

— Frans de Waal

The chimpanzees could tear me apart in no time. They're many times stronger than we are.

— Frans de Waal

There's actually a lot of evidence in primates and other animals that they return favors.

— Frans de Waal

Male bonobos really don't fit the human male ideal.

— Frans de Waal

Future benefits rarely figure in the minds of animals.

— Frans de Waal

The hamadryas baboon is a harem holder where one male mates with multiple females.

— Frans de Waal

Male chimpanzees have an extraordinarily strong drive for dominance. They're constantly jockeying for position.

— Frans de Waal

In Africa, we have the bush meat trade, which means that, on a very large scale, animals are being killed in the…

— Frans de Waal

Although elephants are far more distantly related to us than the great apes, they seem to have evolved similar social and cognitive…

— Frans de Waal

Experiments with animals have long been handicapped by our anthropocentric attitude: We often test them in ways that work fine with humans…

— Frans de Waal

Chimpanzees, typically, kiss and embrace after fights. They first make eye contact from a distance to see the mood of the others.…

— Frans de Waal

The evolutionary struggle for survival is really a self-serving series of blows and stabs, and yet it can lead to extremely social…

— Frans de Waal

To endow animals with human emotions has long been a scientific taboo. But if we do not, we risk missing something fundamental,…

— Frans de Waal

I describe in 'Chimpanzee Politics' how the alpha male needs broad support to reach the top spot. He needs some close allies…

— Frans de Waal

One thing bothered me as a student. In the 1960s, human behavior was totally off limits for the biologist. There was animal…

— Frans de Waal

Being both more systematically brutal than chimps and more empathetic than bonobos, we are by far the most bipolar ape. Our societies…

— Frans de Waal

I've argued that many of what philosophers call moral sentiments can be seen in other species. In chimpanzees and other animals, you…

— Frans de Waal

The intuitive connection children feel with animals can be a tremendous source of joy. The unconditional love received from pets, and the…

— Frans de Waal

Most men probably wouldn't want to live the lives of bonobos. They're constantly clinging to their mothers' apron strings. They lack the…

— Frans de Waal

Chimps cannot tell us anything about peaceful relations, because chimps have only different degrees of hostility between communities. Whereas bonobos do tell…

— Frans de Waal

Following rules is, of course, the reason the dog is man's best friend is because the dog follows rules, and they actually…

— Frans de Waal

Popular culture bombards us with examples of animals being humanized for all sorts of purposes, ranging from education to entertainment to satire…

— Frans de Waal

It is not only visitors to the zoo who are fascinated but uneasy in the presence of chimpanzees; the same is true…

— Frans de Waal

“on August 16, 1996, when an eight-year-old female gorilla named Binti Jua helped a three-year-old boy who had fallen eighteen feet into…

— Frans de Waal

“Along with people in other creative professions, such as artists and musicians, many scientists experience this transcendence. I do so every day.…

— Frans de Waal

There's a long tradition in Western thought that humans are not shackled by biology, whereas animals are pure instinct machines.

— Frans de Waal

Chimps don't have language. Humans actively instruct others about how things should be done. Chimpanzees probably pick up cultural traditions by observation.

— Frans de Waal

Wild groups of chimpanzees attack their enemies like gangs. What they completely lack, precisely because of their strong territorial behavior, is a…

— Frans de Waal

The fact that the apes exist and that we can study them is extremely important and makes us reflect on ourselves and…

— Frans de Waal

We are by far the most contradictory of all primates. An animal with this much internal conflict has never lived on this…

— Frans de Waal

There is little evidence that other animals judge the appropriateness of actions that do not directly affect themselves.

— Frans de Waal

There has been so much underestimating of animal cognition that to perhaps overestimate it, as I probably do, is probably a healthy…

— Frans de Waal

A chimpanzee who is really gearing up for a fight doesn't waste time with gestures but just goes ahead and attacks.

— Frans de Waal

We need to separate the process of evolution - which is, indeed, a self-serving process - and the actual motivations of animals.

— Frans de Waal

If we look straight and deep into a chimpanzee's eyes, an intelligent self-assured personality looks back at us. If they are animals,…

— Frans de Waal

Chimpanzees have very strong preferences and aversions that are completely personality-linked. The people who are unsuccessful in working with chimpanzees are those…

— Frans de Waal

Sometimes I read about someone saying with great authority that animals have no intentions and no feelings, and I wonder, 'Doesn't this…

— Frans de Waal

If you want to design a successful human society you need to know what kind of animal we are. Are we a…

— Frans de Waal

It is well known that apes in the wild offer spontaneous assistance to each other, defending against leopards, say, or consoling distressed…

— Frans de Waal