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Jan. 16th, 2004 11:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
blue_lotus13Yesterday I read a fairly interesting book called "The Pig who sings to the Moon"- The emotional lives of farm animals. (Author- Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson)
This is apparently the first book ever written on this topic. Amid most of the detailed facts about animal emotions, there were also numerous facts about the livestock and farming industries. I think the author made several good points, and this book could be a text for animal rights activists. However, I did think that he was trying to manipulate his audience by being overly sentimental in several instances.
Some things I learned-
1. Pigs are extremely similar to humans in biological makeup. You can transplant a pig heart into a human, and the human will continue to live for a while. Pigs also have skin that is amazingly similar to the skin of human beings. Pigs are very clean and roll in the mud to reduce the effects of heat on their skin.
2. Sheep can recognize and remember over 50 different individuals.
3. Chickens can and do fly. (I didn't know that) In some countries, people catch and pluck LIVE chickens. In other countries, sheep castrations are done without anaesthetic.
4. The way to make foie gras involves force feeding a goose for 30 hours, until their liver gets saturated with fat and their stomach explodes!!
Anyway, it was a worthwhile read and I intend to read his other books on the emotions of dogs and wild animals.
This is apparently the first book ever written on this topic. Amid most of the detailed facts about animal emotions, there were also numerous facts about the livestock and farming industries. I think the author made several good points, and this book could be a text for animal rights activists. However, I did think that he was trying to manipulate his audience by being overly sentimental in several instances.
Some things I learned-
1. Pigs are extremely similar to humans in biological makeup. You can transplant a pig heart into a human, and the human will continue to live for a while. Pigs also have skin that is amazingly similar to the skin of human beings. Pigs are very clean and roll in the mud to reduce the effects of heat on their skin.
2. Sheep can recognize and remember over 50 different individuals.
3. Chickens can and do fly. (I didn't know that) In some countries, people catch and pluck LIVE chickens. In other countries, sheep castrations are done without anaesthetic.
4. The way to make foie gras involves force feeding a goose for 30 hours, until their liver gets saturated with fat and their stomach explodes!!
Anyway, it was a worthwhile read and I intend to read his other books on the emotions of dogs and wild animals.
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Date: 2004-01-16 05:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-01-16 05:23 pm (UTC)Speaking on other non-fiction about cats, have you ever read the books by Desmond Morris? They're pretty interesting too.
I'm definitely more of a dog person than a cat person. :)
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Date: 2004-01-16 05:26 pm (UTC)I picked it up after watching a TV show (National Geographic special, possibly) about elephants and their mourning process. I cried for hours.
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Date: 2004-01-16 05:52 pm (UTC)http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Dec/12212003/business/121824.asp