معماران حیوانات: ساخت و تکامل هوش

Animal behavior has long been a battleground between the competing claims of nature and nurture, with the possible role of cognition in behavior as a recent addition to this debate. There is an untapped trove of behavioral data that can tell us a great deal about how the animals draw from these neural strategies: The structures animals build provide a superb window on the workings of the animal mind. __Animal Architects__ examines animal architecture across a range of species, from those whose blueprints are largely innate (such as spiders and their webs) to those whose challenging structures seem to require intellectual insight, planning, and even aesthetics (such as bowerbirds’ nests, or beavers’ dams). Beginning with instinct and the simple homes of solitary insects, James and Carol Gould move on to conditioning; the “cognitive map” and how it evolved; and the role of planning and insight. Finally, they reflect on what animal building tells us about the nature of human intelligence-showing why humans, unlike many animals, need to build castles in the air. "Animal behavior has long been a battleground between the competing claims of nature and nurture. Only recently has the possible role of animal cognition entered the debate. Animal Architects explores an untapped trove of behavioral data to investigate how the structure an animal builds reveals the inner workings of its mind."--Jacket Looks at why animals build, explores the building processes of a variety of species, and discusses how a study of animal building behavior can provides an understanding of the human mind. From two of the world's most distinguished experts in animal behavior, a radical, creative, and accessible new approach to understanding animal minds through the structures they build James L. Gould And Carol Grant Gould. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 301-309) And Index.