The Last Embrace of Mama: What Animal Emotions Teach Us

Do animals feel pride, shame, guilt, or disgust like we humans do? Do they have a sense of justice and gratitude? Can dogs laugh and mourn, are elephants capable of comforting each other, and do monkeys envy, conspire, and plot revenge? Do fish feel pain and can birds love? What do alpha male chimpanzees have in common with modern politicians?
In this kind and intelligent book, alongside the touching story of a chimpanzee named Mama, renowned primatologist Frans de Waal shares his numerous observations and experiments dedicated to studying the emotions of various animals. Alongside anger and hatred, which can even lead to the intentional killing of their kind, animals reveal an astonishing capacity for compassion, reconciliation, and forgiveness. They, like us, are capable of empathy, mutual aid, and close social interaction.
The author examines human emotions in an evolutionary context as a direct continuation of animal emotions and calls for an awareness of our inseparable bond with all beings on the planet and ultimately to better understand ourselves.