Animals Make Us Human: Creating the Best Life for Animals – A NYT Bestseller on the Emotional Needs of Dogs, Cats, Horses, and Zoo Creatures

How can we give animals the best life—for them? What does an animal need to be happy? In her groundbreaking, best-selling book Animals in Translation, Temple Grandin drew on her own experience with autism as well as her experience as an animal scientist to deliver extraordinary insights into the science of animal emotions and how animals think, act, and feel. Now she builds on those insights to show us how to give our animals the best and happiest life—on their terms, not ours. Knowing what causes animals physical pain is usually easy, but pinpointing emotional distress is much harder. Drawing on the latest research and her own work, Grandin identifies the core emotional needs that drive animal behavior and then explains how to fulfill the specific needs of dogs and cats, horses, farm animals, zoo animals, and even wildlife. Whether it’s how to make the healthiest environment for the dog you must leave alone most of the day, how to keep pigs from being bored, or how to know if the lion pacing in the zoo is miserable or just exercising, Grandin teaches us to challenge our assumptions about animal contentment and honor our bond with our fellow creatures.

Animals Make Us Human is the culmination of almost thirty years of research, experimentation, and experience in animal welfare. This is essential reading for anyone who’s ever owned, cared for, or simply cared about an animal.

This essential guide to animal welfare translates decades of research into practical actions you can take today:

Core Emotional Needs: Learn to identify the four core emotional systems that drive the behavior of every animal, from your family dog to a lion in a zoo. Autism and Animal Perception: See the world as animals do through Temple Grandin’s unique perspective, which uses insights from her own autism to decode how animals perceive and feel. Enriched Environments: Go beyond basic care to create environments that fulfill an animal's mental and emotional needs, whether it’s keeping a pig from being bored or a horse from being spooked. Species-Specific Advice: Find practical, science-backed solutions for a wide range of animals, including dogs and cats, horses, farm animals, and even wildlife.