The Last Embrace of Mom: What Animal Emotions Teach Us

Do animals experience pride, shame, guilt, or disgust like we, humans do? Do they have a sense of justice and gratitude? Can dogs laugh and mourn, can elephants comfort each other, and can monkeys feel envy, weave intrigues, and plot... revenge? Do fish feel pain, and can birds love? What do alpha male chimpanzees and modern politicians have in common?
In this kind and intelligent book, in addition to the touching story of a chimpanzee named Mom, renowned primatologist Frans de Waal shares his numerous observations and experiments on studying the emotions of various animals. Along with anger and hatred, which can even lead to deliberate murder among their kind, animals show a remarkable ability for compassion, reconciliation, and forgiveness. They, like us, are capable of empathy, mutual aid, and close social interaction.
The author examines human feelings in an evolutionary context as a direct continuation of animal emotions and calls for recognizing our unbreakable connection with all beings on the planet and ultimately better understanding ourselves.