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Acknowledgements and Apologies

The aim of all educational books is to contribute to knowledge and understanding. My book is addressed to all who care for sentient animals, which is a much broader reading public than just academics and students diligently studying animal welfare as a part of their formal education. However, it must carry the authority that comes from diligent research. Just as the animals acquire different skills to meet different challenges, being expert in some things, ignorant of others, so too the academics. With this I mind, I must acknowledge at the outset that this book is crazily ambitious in scope. It carries the scent of ‘life, the universe and everything’ in that it seeks to embrace the full extent of our knowledge and understanding of the sentient minds of animals in the context of the full range of challenges and opportunities presented by life on earth. Moreover, I acknowledge, it abounds in speculation. Many millions of words have been written by scientists, philosophers and fellow travellers seeking to understand the minds of animals, how they are shaped by their environments and how these are linked to the workings of the brain. My reading of this is wide but, inevitably less wide than it could be. If I were to attempt to acknowledge the sources of every assertion made in this book, the list of references would be longer than the book itself and even then, I would be guilty of omitting at least as many seminal references as I included. Moreover, a comprehensive list of references intended to direct a library search no longer carries the importance it once had. In recent years, my research, like that of everybody else, has been made so much quicker and more comprehensive by the reading and careful interpretation of on‐line information from sources such as Google Scholar and Wikipedia. Readers wishing to confirm or contest my assertions in regard to well‐documented issues, or simply seek further and better particulars, should be able to get access to almost all my sources in two to three clicks. In the section ‘Further Reading’, I list a number of good books that expand on some of the big topics presented here in brief. Most of the specific references listed under further reading deal with material taken from a specific scientific communication. When I speculate beyond the constraints of the literature and cannot therefore stand on the shoulders of others, I strive always to conform to first principles of science that apply across a broad spectrum so do not need the support of written evidence relating to every possible circumstance. Water runs downhill, wherever one happens to be.

I have spent over 60 years working with animals, thinking about animals, discussing animals with wise colleagues, writing and teaching about animals. I cannot possibly acknowledge by name all those who have guided and developed my thoughts: distinguished colleagues who have enriched my understanding; razor‐sharp students who have challenged my convictions. I have therefore taken the easy option and never (well, almost never) named names. Those of you who read this book and recognise that I am talking about you, please accept my heartfelt thanks. I would make one exception to my policy of not naming names. I am deeply indebted to Birte Nielsen of UFAW, who has conscientiously and wisely helped to knock this manuscript into shape, purged me of repetitions and reined me in whenever my imagination was getting out of hand.