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"Animals in Translation"



 
 
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  #1  
Old January 15th 05, 04:20 AM
Susan Fraser
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Default "Animals in Translation"

I heard an interview (NPR?) with the author Temple Grandin and then
read an article by her in Bark magazine at B&N while I drank my coffee
that was fascinating, and so I broke down and bought the book "Animals
in Translation - Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal
Behavior". (I haven't bought my Critical Care textbook for this
semester yet, but - hey, priorities...)

So far, well worth it. I was afraid that she was going to say that
since she was autistic she could see their aura or something, but she's
definately not a wacko. McDonald's, Wendy's, etc hire her to audit
animal movement systems so that the animals go to the slaughter with
less stress. Her system does things like quantifies vocalizations,
statistically limits prod use, etc, and then she helps the plants
figure out HOW to meet the objectives, things like lighting doorways to
eliminate shadows, visually covering machinery with moving parts,
reducing glare on puddles, etc., so that the animals do not balk and
stress. NOT what I expected.

The magazine article's premise was that dogs and humans may well have
CO-evolved, and that assimilating aspects of canid society into our own
affected our evolution as much, or possibly more, than we did theirs.
For example, we learned from them social cooperation including same sex
friendships, rare among primates, which led to the greater exchange of
ideas. Also cooperative hunting, etc. She avers that domestication
usually reduces brain size, and that is what happened to US when we
paired with canids, although their's was reduced too. But the
reductions were almost opposite - our frontal and corpus callosum
remained the same but our mid brain (smell especially) shrank while
their's did the reverse. IOW, we plan and manipulate, they guard and
find, etc. Complementary specialties.

I don't know if she goes into this in the book - I have only just read
snippets in the bookstore and only bought it because I couldn't put it
down. Like I said, so far, a must read!

Susan Fraser, owned and trained by
The Golden Girls:
HR BeBop a Lu SheBop SH,
HR Shamma Lamma Ding Dong CD MH NJP **,
and Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya

  #2  
Old January 15th 05, 04:32 AM
Susan Fraser
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Posts: n/a
Default

Here's the link to hear the NPR interview with Temple Grandin:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...toryId=4278538

Susan F.

  #3  
Old January 15th 05, 07:15 AM
flick
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Posts: n/a
Default

Susan Fraser wrote:

I heard an interview (NPR?) with the author Temple Grandin and then
read an article by her in Bark magazine at B&N while I drank my coffee
that was fascinating, and so I broke down and bought the book "Animals
in Translation - Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal
Behavior". (I haven't bought my Critical Care textbook for this
semester yet, but - hey, priorities...)

So far, well worth it. I was afraid that she was going to say that
since she was autistic she could see their aura or something, but she's
definately not a wacko. McDonald's, Wendy's, etc hire her to audit
animal movement systems so that the animals go to the slaughter with
less stress. Her system does things like quantifies vocalizations,
statistically limits prod use, etc, and then she helps the plants
figure out HOW to meet the objectives, things like lighting doorways to
eliminate shadows, visually covering machinery with moving parts,
reducing glare on puddles, etc., so that the animals do not balk and
stress. NOT what I expected.

The magazine article's premise was that dogs and humans may well have
CO-evolved, and that assimilating aspects of canid society into our own
affected our evolution as much, or possibly more, than we did theirs.
For example, we learned from them social cooperation including same sex
friendships, rare among primates, which led to the greater exchange of
ideas. Also cooperative hunting, etc. She avers that domestication
usually reduces brain size, and that is what happened to US when we
paired with canids, although their's was reduced too. But the
reductions were almost opposite - our frontal and corpus callosum
remained the same but our mid brain (smell especially) shrank while
their's did the reverse. IOW, we plan and manipulate, they guard and
find, etc. Complementary specialties.

I don't know if she goes into this in the book - I have only just read
snippets in the bookstore and only bought it because I couldn't put it
down. Like I said, so far, a must read!


There's a lot about her and her designs on the net.
Fascinating and brilliant woman.

http://www.grandin.com

flick 100785


Susan Fraser, owned and trained by
The Golden Girls:
HR BeBop a Lu SheBop SH,
HR Shamma Lamma Ding Dong CD MH NJP **,
and Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya


  #4  
Old January 15th 05, 07:05 PM
FurPaw
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Posts: n/a
Default

Susan Fraser wrote:
I heard an interview (NPR?) with the author Temple Grandin and then
read an article by her in Bark magazine at B&N while I drank my coffee
that was fascinating, and so I broke down and bought the book "Animals
in Translation - Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal
Behavior". (I haven't bought my Critical Care textbook for this
semester yet, but - hey, priorities...)


Her earlier book, "Thinking In Pictures : and Other Reports from My
Life with Autism" is also well worth a read. She's an amazing
person. I haven't read Translation, but it's on my amazon wish
list, to be ordered soon.

Thanks for the npr link!

FurPaw

--
Sleep is the best meditation. - Dalai Lama

To reply, unleash the dog
 




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