Aesop’s Animals: The Science Behind the Fables
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Despite originating more than two-and-a-half thousand years ago, Aesop's Fables are still passed on from parent to child, and are embedded in our collective consciousness. The morals we have learned from these tales continue to inform our judgements, but have the stories also informed how we regard their animal protagonists? Are wolves deceptive villains? Are crows insightful geniuses? And could a tortoise really beat a hare in a race? What truths about the animal world lie behind these tales?
In Aesop's Animals, zoologist Jo Wimpenny turns a critical eye to the fables to examine the science behind Aesop's portrayal of the animal kingdom. She brings the tales into the twenty-first century, introducing the latest findings from the world of behavioural ecology – the study of why animals do the things they do, in areas such as tool use, plans and projections, self-recognition, cooperation and deception. How close to verifiable scientific truths do these ancient tales lay?
Sifting facts from fiction, Aesop's Animals explores and challenges our notions about animals, the ways in which they behave, and the roles we both play in our shared world.
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The format of this appealed to me - testing Aesop's Fables against actual scientifically studied animal behaviour. I found it well written, perhaps a little repetitive where certain experiments were relevant to more than one fable, and perhaps 50 pages longer than my attention span (due to the repetition?)
The format is consistent - a paragraph long fable - usually an explanation about the evolution of the relevant animal (sometimes relative to the evolutionary branching from man, or another animal), a study on the behaviour relevant animals, usually some other animal relevant to the behaviour - a summary of whether the fable is fact or fiction (incorporating a suggestion for a better fitting animal where appropriate.
The Crow and the Pitcher - We learn a lot about corvids (ravens, crows, rooks, magpies, jays etc) and their ability to problem solve.
The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing - This chapter focuses on wolves, but also sidelines into primates. This one covers an animals abilities in deception.
The Dog and its Shadow - We learn about dogs, mostly focusing on the domestic dogs and the ability of self-recognition.
The Ass Carrying the Image - This chapter studies donkeys (and to a lesser degree other equids) generally focused on donkey intelligence and cognition.
The Fox and the Crow - Foxes take centre stage here, and this is largely a chapter on debunking fox myths!
The Lion and the Shepherd - We learn about Lions and experimentation into animals that act with reciprocation (or those that don't).
The Monkey and the Fisherman - Primates are one of the most studied of animals, so as well as being referenced in many of the other chapters they take centre stage here, with a study of which animals engage in mimicry or imitation.
The Ant and the Grasshopper - I am sure you are picking up on the theme... grasshoppers and ants feature here, where the ability to 'future-think' or prepare for the future is studied.
The Hare and the Tortoise - Surely the most famous of the fables, the hare vs the tortoise, slow and steady wins the race etc, this gives us lots of facts around hares and tortoises and how it all pans out in a race.
An enjoyable pop-science book, well presented, easy to read (although a level of concentration is required when some of the more complex experiments are stepped through), and it mostly achieves what is sets out to do. If I was be be very cynical, maybe the premise is just a way to arrange a lot of interesting animal experimentation into a framework. But realistically it worked pretty well.
There was loads of good information in the book, too much to replicate here, but worth the read of these sorts of things are of interest.
4.5 stars.
