Made for Each Other: The Biology of the Human-animal BondNothing turns a baby's head more quickly than the sight or sound of an animal. This fascination is driven by the ancient chemical forces that first drew humans and animals together. It is also the same biology that transformed wolves into dogs and skittish horses into valiant comrades that would carry us into battle. Made for Each Other is the first book to explain how this chemistry of attraction and attachment flows through--and between--all mammals to create the profound emotional bonds humans and animals still feel today. Drawing on recent discoveries from neuroscience, evolutionary biology, behavioral psychology, archeology, as well as her own investigations, Meg Daley Olmert explains why the brain chemistry humans and animals trigger in each other also has a profound effect on our mental and physical well being. This lively and original investigation asks what happens when the bond is severed. If thousands of years of caring for animals infused us with a biology that shaped our hearts and minds, do we dare turn our back on it? Daley Olmert makes a compelling and scientific case for what our hearts have always known, that we were, and always will be, made for each other. |
Contents
TWO The Birth of the Bond | 15 |
THREE A Mind on Nature | 33 |
FOUR The Rules of Engagement | 43 |
FIVE Brave New World | 51 |
SIX Good Dog | 67 |
SEVEN On the Shoulders of Giants | 81 |
EIGHT The Meeting of the Minds | 105 |
NINE The Dog of the Hare | 121 |
ELEVEN Made for Each Other | 151 |
TWELVE The Survivors | 165 |
THIRTEEN The Kids in the Coal Mine | 179 |
FOURTEEN Oxytocin Deprivation | 195 |
FIFTEEN Just Realizing | 219 |
Notes | 245 |
Acknowledgments | 277 |
284 | |
Other editions - View all
Made for Each Other: The Biology of the Human-Animal Bond Meg Daley Olmert No preview available - 2010 |
Common terms and phrases
Aaron Katcher ability ADHD amygdala ancestors ancient aurochs autistic babies baboons bark behavior biology biophilia Biophilia Hypothesis blood pressure brain breed calm Catalhoyuk cattle chemical chemistry communication created dogs dolphins domestication E. O. Wilson effects Egyptians emotional eyes face farm feel female Fulani gene genetic Hare herd hormone horse human-animal bond humans and animals hunters Ice Age imals interactions Jared Diamond Kerstin Uvnas-Moberg kids kind language lives male mammals maternal mates mere exposure effect milk million mind mirror neurons monogamous mothers muscle nature Neolithic nerves neural Nubian nurturing owners oxytocin levels paralanguage percent pets powerful prairie voles primate pups rats Ray Hunt relaxed release researchers response says sense showed signals Smuts social society species stress Temple Grandin thousand tion tocin touch trigger vasopressin receptor visual watching wild animals wolf wolves women York zoo program