The Animal Connection

A new perspective on what makes us human.

by Pat Shipman, Ph.D.

Should I Have Said Something?

Marfan is a genetic disorder that affects the connective tissue that holds our bodies together. Marfan can play a role in many health problems, most especially in the heart, eyes, and joints. I long suspected my friend might have it. Should I have said something? Read More

Why Do People Cheat and Lie?

Why would someone commit the greatest scientific hoax in paleoanthropology? Read More

Living With Snakes

Why are some people afraid of snakes and others not? Read More

Dogs Are Our Oldest Friends

What does it mean that dogs are our oldest friends? Human-dog-human communication has developed since 32,000 years ago... Read More

What Role Does Empathy Play in Intelligence?

"No intelligent life here, Captain"—Part II: How did the domestication of dogs ensure our survival? Read More

No Intelligent Life Here, Captain - Part 1

Why is there only one human species alive in the world today, when once there were several? Why did we survive? Read More

Why Do Rape and Pedophilia Exist?

I've been thinking about sex abuse and pedophilia a lot lately. It has been painful. Read More

Spotting an Ancient Trend

In my last blog, I wrote about a study that found the genes for spotting in horse bones that were 25,000 years old—just like the fabulous prehistoric paintings of horses the Pêch-Merle cave in France. I love the research because I have seen the painted caves & they are marvelous.

But there's more, much more, to this story. Read More

A Message from the Past

I recently had the satisfying experience of finding out that something I "knew" intuitively was actually true. Anyone who has seen a reproduction of the prehistoric cave paintings from Europe is likely to be impressed, especially when their age of those paintings is revealed. Read More

Looking for Love in All the Wrong Places

For me, New York City is an alien environment, even though I lived there for 6 years while I went to graduate school. It is too fast, too loud, too big, too frenzied, too impersonal, and too weird for me. Eventually I learned to confine my world mostly to the Village, where I lived and could walk to classes at New York University. Read More

Horse Talk and Nonverbal Communication

Lee, you've hit the nail on the head again. As a horsewoman, I can testify that there is a very strong communication between horse and rider that is not verbal. Read More

Hard-Wired for Perception -- of Whom? The Cross-Species Dialogue

Did dogs domesticate US or did we domesticate THEM? Read More

Hard-Wired for Animals

For some years now, I have explored the connection between animals and humans and its enormous impact on the evolution of our species. For example, many scholars believe that the invention of language was spurred by the adaptive value of collecting detailed information and sharing it with others in our group. Read More

The Power of a Name

The day I became an anthropologist. Read More

Learning from a Five-Otter Day

How deeply connected are we to the wild animals with which we share space? Read More

Pat Shipman, Ph.D., is a writer and paleoanthropologist who writes about science and evolution for non-scientists.

more...

About The Animal Connection

The Animal Connection is a blog based on ongoing research (mine and others') and personal observations about human evolution, the human animal, and our deep connection to other animals. I want to explore why animals matter in human life and what has shaped the human species.