Outsider Animals: How the creatures at the margins of our lives have the most to teach us
Many nonhuman animals with whom we share our homes and other landscapes are often mistakenly written off as being unimportant and disposable ‘pests’ . However, they deserve more respect; we kill them far too often, and writing them off says more about us than them. These animals, including raccoons, rats, and coyotes, are actually very important neighbors. It’s easy to only think of animals in terms of what they do for (or to) us, rather than look at them and appreciate them for themselves.
PSYCHOLOGY TODAY: Many of the nonhuman animals (animals) with whom we share our homes and other landscapes are often mistakenly written off as being unimportant and disposable “pests” or “trash” animals. However, they deserve more respect; we kill them far too often, and writing them off says more about us than them. These animals, including raccoons, rats, and coyotes, are actually very important neighbors.
For these and other reasons, we should all be thankful to animal behavior expert Dr. Marlene Zuk for offering valuable information about what these and other animal intruders can teach us about intelligence, adaptability, and ourselves in her new book ‘Outsider Animals: How the Creatures at the Margins of Our Lives Have the Most to Teach Us’…
Marc Bekoff (MB): Why did you write Outsider Animals?
Marlene Zuk (MZ): there are lots of books about popular animals like chimpanzees, cats, dogs, and even octopus. But I wanted to write a book about a different category, those animals that live on the margins, those that we encounter whether we want to or not, like gulls or coyotes or even cockroaches, and show people how much more there is to them than they might think…
MB: What are some of the topics you consider and some of your major messages?
MZ: How do we live with animals in urban, suburban, and even wild areas? It can be hard to navigate the edges, where both humans and animals lay claim. I want us to ask some hard questions about who belongs where, rather than reflexively assuming humans always have the upper hand or that we need to go back to a natural state, whatever that is. That means re-considering what we mean by invasive species.
For the chapter on cabbage white butterflies, for instance, I interviewed butterfly expert Art Shapiro, who pointed out that many native butterfly species now depend on introduced plant species for food. Does that mean we should get rid of the plants and let the butterflies go extinct? Probably not. But there are few easy answers, and it’s important to recognize the complexity facing us.
Along those lines, I explore how people blame animals like raccoons, cowbirds, or Common Mynas for damaging their property or harming other species that they happen to like more. Much of the time, it was humans who caused the problem to begin with; for example, if our trash weren’t so omnipresent and accessible, raccoons wouldn’t find cities so inviting.
I also delve into the biology of each of the species in the book, showing how fascinating the lives of animals we thought we knew, like gulls or snakes, can be. Snakes may be the only animal that’s really changed human evolution, for instance, and gulls have illustrated the prevalence of same-sex pairing in the animal kingdom…
MB: Are you hopeful that as people learn more about these fascinating and important animals, they will treat them with more respect, compassion, and dignity?
MZ: Absolutely. It’s easy to only think of animals in terms of what they do for (or to) us. I hope people can look at them and appreciate them for themselves… I realize that many (most?) people won’t stop squashing cockroaches, but maybe, just maybe, they can see them as more than just pests. MARC BEKOFF
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