As someone who has studied and written about the cognitive and emotional lives of nonhuman animals (animals) for many decades, I've read various accounts about the good, the bad, and the ugly of ...

Dog butlers, Gucci bowls and pet spas? The real story is how luxury hotels are turning consumer psychology into one of ...

This post is in response to When Animals Wear Pants: Anthropomorphism and Learning By Boby Ho-Hong Ching Ph.D. I have learned that anthropomorphism is a deeply suspect word, used to defend cruelty to ...

At the start of Elizabeth Hobson’s career as an ecologist, she knew to stick to one rule: Never anthropomorphize the animals you study. For plenty of people, assigning human characteristics to another ...

Forbes contributors publish independent expert analyses and insights. Sahar Hashmi, M.D., Ph.D., is a Boston-based, award-winning AI expert. Feb 28, 2026, 11:53pm EST Mar 01, 2026, 01:07am EST A ...

If you think your dog loves you, you’re a fool. If you feel a kinship with a tree, you’re a hippie. And if you over-empathize with a wild animal, you must be wearing cheetah prints and a flower crown, ...

People communicate with pets using specific tones and words, which animals often recognize. Effective pet parenting involves ...

Autumn begins tomorrow. Suffused already with a seasonal nostalgia, I'm replaying scenes of summer in my head. Among them is sitting in a dark theatre, watching apes clamber across San Francisco's ...