The term 'alpha female' originated in my field of animal behavior, but has acquired new meaning. It refers to women who are… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
Unlike the primate hand, the elephant's grasping organ is also its nose. Elephants use their trunks not only to reach food but… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
Most exotic animals are not particularly interested in people, which makes it hard to provoke them. Human-rearing gets them used to and… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
If you are a cooperative animal you need to watch what you get. If you, or even a whole community, invest in… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
Scientists are supposed to study animals in a totally objective fashion, similar to the way we inspect a rock or measure the… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
You should know as much as you can about the human species if you have a hand in designing human society. Of… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
Bonobo studies started in the '70s and came to fruition in the '80s. Then in the '90s, all of a sudden, boom,… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
If you look at human society, it is very easy, of course, to compare our warfare and territoriality with the chimpanzee. But… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
It is hard to get animals which normally pay little attention to each other to do things together. One can teach dolphins… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
I am personally not against keeping animals at zoos, as they serve a huge educational purpose, but treating them well and with… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
We, who think like animals living in small groups, must structure a global world. We believe in universal human rights and believe… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
Contrary to general belief, humans imitate apes more than the reverse. The sight of monkeys or apes induces an irresistible urge in… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
I sometimes try to imagine what would have happened if we’d known the bonobo first and the chimpanzee only later—or not at… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
Closeness to animals creates the desire to understand them, and not just a little piece of them, but the whole animal. It… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
If both parties have a stake in the other, the chances of them killing each other are going to be reduced. — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
I sometimes try to imagine what would have happened if we’d known the bonobo first and the chimpanzee only later—or not at all. The… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
Unlike the primate hand, the elephant's grasping organ is also its nose. Elephants use their trunks not only to reach food but also to… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
The possibility that empathy resides in parts of the brain so ancient that we share them with rats should give pause to anyone comparing… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
“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 the primate… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
We start out postulating sharp boundaries, such as between humans and apes, or between apes and monkeys, but are in fact dealing with sand… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
Perhaps it's just me, but I am wary of any persons whose belief system is the only thing standing between them and repulsive behavior. — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
Personally, I think it is possible to build a society that is moral on a nonreligious basis, but the jury is still out on… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
“humans are a strange lot. We have the power to analyze and explore the world around us, yet panic as soon as the evidence… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
Armies are a purely human invention. Most soldiers who go to war nowadays don't even do it because they're inherently aggressive. — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
There's actually a lot of evidence in primates and other animals that they return favors. — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
“In a world divided by chimpophiles and bonobophiles, we all had a good laugh when Stephen peeled his banana. (62)” — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
In Africa, we have the bush meat trade, which means that, on a very large scale, animals are being killed in the forests and… — Frans de Waal Copy Share Image
