Primatologist Frans de Waal takes exception with human exceptionalism

Frans de Waal calls his new book Mama’s Last Hug in reference to an emotional encounter between Mama, a 58-year-old chimpanzee, and Jan van Hooff, an 80-year-old biology professor. De Waal, who runs Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center in Atlanta, uses the scene to open his investigation into the emotions of animals, from primates to dogs to rats. Those who are familiar with De Waal’s research know the proposal is not so radical, as the primatologist has for decades been showing humans that we are not as special as many of our species seem to think we are.

Source: nautil.us