Makani 1

Makani Webb

Prof. Sharyn Hunter

English 1201 Online

10 February 2019

Annotated Bibliography

In this essay, I plan to answer how human-animal interactions can be resolved. Could

there be a way to co-exist peacefully with other life-forms of intelligence? If so, are those

advocating animal rights correct that we should stop eating meat? Is there another way that

allows all parties involved to continue to eat and wear what they want to, while still not

inhibiting the rights of anyone else? Does animal intelligence mean that we can more easily go

forward with co-existence or not?

“Animal Intelligence.” New Scientist, New Scientist, www.newscientist.com/article-

topic/animal-intelligence/.

The staff of New Scientist devotes an entire category to animal intelligence in the New

Scientist online news site. A brief look at the headlines on the page gives you an easy

introduction to breakthroughs in this field. Test results such as horses’ reactions to someone who

appeared upset when last they saw them, bees’ math ability, and parrots’ being given a choice

between saving for something better or spending money immediately. Most results point towards

intelligence in animals and are simply trying to pinpoint the specifics. Investigations check

animal capability for caring, mathematics, logic, and memory.

The writers of the page intend to investigate the specifics of a field they find interesting

and share it with their readers. Each headline is phrased to pull science lovers in. Most articles
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are written recently after most scientists have been convinced of animal intelligence. As such, the

headlines are not asking ‘are they intelligent’, but ‘how close do their abilities mirror our own’.

The staff of New Scientist writes the articles attached to the headlines. They have been

selected to write subjects specifically about science, with very little other news. They have topic

sections for many fields of science, such as space, tech, and physics. They also have more

relevant topics such as health, environment, and ‘comments’, some of which you can see in the

‘news’ section. The amount of knowledge in a single article is small, especially since you need to

subscribe to read some of them, however, the whole section on animal intelligence gives a good

sketch of the breakthroughs in this subject just by looking at the headlines. The source has been

reviewed by New Scientist, who is owned only by itself, keeping other companies from tainting

the information. All writers have been chosen to write on a site that primarily writes reports on

science breakthroughs, which tells us that they are likely to be reliable. Moreover, each article

has been founded on someone’s science investigation, meaning you can trace the steps the

reporters used to get their source(s).

This site provides a good background of the breakthroughs in animal intelligence. I plan

to use it to formulate my use of animal intelligence in my essay, by knowing exactly what is

going on in the field.

Bekoff, Marc. “Killing Animals In The Name Of Conservation Needs To Stop.” The

Huffington Post, TheHuffingtonPost.com, 14 Mar. 2017,

www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rather-than-kill-animals-softly-dont-kill-

them_us_58b6ec57e4b0e5fdf6197950.

Marc Bekoff wrote his news article, “Killing Animals In The Name Of Conservation

Needs To Stop” for the HuffPost in 2017, in order to explain how there is no good way to kill an
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animal humanely and to kill them for the cause of wildlife conservation is an act of fooling

ourselves. Marc Bekoff begins with an account of a diverse group who met to discuss the best

way to deal with invasive species who have upset the natural order of things. He quotes the

conclusion from an essay written by one of the group and highlights a statement suggesting

coexistence to deal with the confrontations between human animals, which, currently, only result

in death, usually the animals. Another source, who wrote a summary on the previous one but

added more sources and reasoning, points out that there were three options, to kill slowly and

inhumanely, quickly and risk the death of a pet or child, or to realize that you did not need to kill

invasive species at all. One difficulty, as Marc Bekoff points out, is the difficulty of finding

alternative methods. The diverse group, which was Marc Bekoff’s first source, found a usable

solution when they were assigned to discussing this matter, work on the issue on a case by case

basis to find the best way to conserve nature. We also need to change people’s minds about the

necessity of the death of animals. Marc Bekoff ends his article by proclaiming that our position

as the dominant species did not mean that we could act with cruelty to our fellow Earthens.

The compelling nature of Marc Bekoff’s words was clearly written with the intention of

convincing those whose hearts are open for the influence to assist in the efforts to reduce

unnecessary animal deaths. Because it was written recently, the article represents an

understanding of animal conservation that only developed recently.

Marc Bekoff, the writer, used to be a professor at the University of Colorado before he

retired to writing articles for the Huffington Post. Most of his information seems to come from

essays he has read and his own conclusions on the matter. Some of his sources appear to be of

quality. He is well known, the website has people refereeing the content, and his statements

come from logical conclusions.

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The essay provides proof of how our current conservation methods are inefficient and

inhumane. I intend to use this proof to show how we should find other methods, such as co-

existence, instead.

Bisceglio, Paul. “Are Cities Making Animals Smarter?” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media

Company, 16 Aug. 2018, www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/08/cities-animal-

intelligence-fishing-cats/567538/.

The Atlantic published Paul Bisceglio’s “Are Cities Making Animals Smarter?” on

August 16, 2018 which makes the main point saying we can have a healthy co-existence with

animals. Paul Bisceglio begins with a story of how a young woman named Anya Ratnayaka

discovered that the person stealing from her boss’s koi pond was in actuality, a fishing cat who

had moved in the city. Ratnayaka began to conduct a study on these urban fishing cats, which led

the author to join her in her home city of Colombo, Sri Lanka for his article. Ratnayaka showed

him around while pointing out possible favorite haunts of the urban fishing cats. An interview

with Chandana Pathirage reveals that the people of the city know of the fishing cats, but only

under a different name: thief cat. Paul Bisceglio tells us that soon, ten percent of the earth will be

covered by cities, and many animals have decided to live in them, Colombo first and foremost.

The animals have adapted remarkably well to the perils of city life, showing more intelligence

when it comes to traffic and hunting. Even scientists who agree with this theory support it only

tentatively. While it may be tough to tell if animals do get more intelligent in the cities, the data

point may help scientists figure out how intelligent species are overall. Paul Bisceglio tells us the

first fishing cat he met had been killed in a car wreck and preserved by the city’s wildlife-

rehabilitation center for research. The animals may have survived the civil war fought in Sri

Lanka recently, but now they have to deal with humans who do not understand what is going on
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or are worried for their family and livestock, in addition to being hit by a car. Near the end of his

stay, he acknowledges that the visit to Sri Lanka may not have been helpful at all with his

questions. He decides to head to a zoo owned by the military, warned ahead of time that the

animals there are disabled and possibly insane. The first cage holds a fishing cat and the kittens it

is guarding. Another fishing cat cage’s occupant was forced out by the zoo keeper after which it

ran out, upset. A third adult fishing cat sat in a tree, blinded. Paul Bisceglio chose to watch the

cats and think about his questions. He considers a test made by Kay Holekamp who attempted to

find a single test to figure out the intelligence of all animals in hopes of learning how to create

artificial intelligence. For Ratnayaka, the query is simply to protect fishing cats. She frets that

cities may not help for the long term. She suggests forming the city to accomodate wildlife as

well as humans in all parts of the city. On Paul Bisceglio’s final day in Sri Lanka, he spends the

time with volunteers searching for fishing cats. He describes it as fun, although nobody found

one of the fishing cats. He concludes by telling us how the main cat Ratnayaka has been studying

lost his tracking collar and has not been seen in a while.

The writer is hoping to find an explanation as to whether or not cities have an affect on

animal intelligence. Towards the end of his narrative, he shows that he wants the animals to have

a healthy co-existence with humans. It’s addressed to people who are interested in the

developments of the world. Because he chose to research in Sri Lanka, he found that the war that

ravaged the lands helped the animals adapt to cities.

Paul Bisceglio, the writer and associate editor at The Atlantic, has written a good article

reviewed by the Atlantic’s official referees. He has written a very complete account of what he

has discovered in Sri Lanka.

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I hope to use this as proof that animals are intelligence and working together is a

possibility.

Gorman, James and Christopher Whitworth, directors. In Captivity, Orangutans Unlock

Greater Curiosity and Intelligence. The New York Times, The New York Times, 12 Dec.

2017, www.nytimes.com/video/science/100000005592392/in-captivity-orangutans-

unlock-greater-curiosity-and-intelligence.html.

James Gorman and Christopher Whitworth use their video, In Captivity, Orangutans

Unlock Greater Curiosity and Intelligence, made on the 12 of December in of 2017 in the New

York Times website, to tell us that animals become more curious when they have more

interaction with humans. James Gorman, the narrator of the video, starts with an explanation,

normal orangutans do not exhibit any signs of curiosity. He begins describing a test involving

two orangutans, one raised in the wild, one raised by humans. When offered a strange food, the

wild orangutan refused to come close, while the one who was owned by humans went right up

and ate the food. The orangutans were also shown a fake snake. Again, the wild orangutan

declined to investigate while the domesticated one grabbed for it. Finally, the two orangutans

were offered an intelligence test. The tame orangutan was the only one who came close to it, and

therefore, the only one to solve it. James Gorman concludes by questioning how humans became

as curious as we are.

The directors filmed the video in order to share their excitement on the topic. Now that

people are no longer wondering if animals are intelligent, they are wanting to know more about

how intelligent and why. It is created for someone who has a healthy enjoyment of science.

The directors, James Gorman, and Christopher Whitworth are science writers for the New

York Times. Everything they make is evaluated for plagiarism and correct information. The test
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they wrote about was performed by another group for which James Gorman and Christopher

Whitworth cite. The test contains plenty of information for the video.

This video should serve as proof that animals would benefit from a co-existence with

humans. I hope this will ease people who worry about the harm animals may receive from such a

symbiotic relationship.

Korsgaard, Christine M. “Fellow Creatures Our Obligations to the Other Animals.”

Scholarly and Reference E-Books, ebooks.ohiolink.edu.sinclair.ohionet.org/xtf-

ebc/view?docId=tei%2Fox%2F9780198753858%2F9780198753858.xml&query=&bran

d=default.

Christine M. Korsgaard wrote “Fellow Creatures Our Obligations to the Other Animals”

which is available on Scholarly and Reference E-Books to explain how we should help animals

because we owe it to them. Christine M. Korsgaard starts with telling us that humans are not

superior to animals, especially because of morals. She says that animals do not need morals, do

not understand morals, and therefore cannot be held accountable for violating them. She then

continues to writee about a man named Immanuel Kant has come up with the idea that humans

are superior to animals and the final moment of our superiority happened when the first humans

turned to the animals and took from them to provide for ourselves. He says that we owe it to

ourselves to show gratitude and kindness to animals who serve us. Korsgaard shows deep

disproval of this idea, saying that Adam and Eve turning on the sheep that way was both

ridiculous and profoundly disturbing. She points out that loving something because you owe it to

yourself ends up with owing it to them. She also scoffs at the idea that a cat named Scarlett could

be considered heroic for saving all of her kittens and ending up with scorched fur. She

momentarily touches on animal welfare, saying that it was important for animals to be animals.
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She finally touches on the words of a man who suggests genetically modifying predators to be

prey. She uses abolitionist’s counter arguments to say that we may not even have the right to

domesticate animals like that. She finally says that humans need animals for companionship,

resting her ideals on the issue.

The writer intends to host a one-person discussion about animal rights, welfare, and

conservation. She wants debaters to read it.

Christine M. Korsgaard is a philosopher at Harvard. I find an adequate information for

her book.

This book will both serve as a counter-argument, and provide information about unique

viewpoints.

“Lion hugging his human friend”. Digital Image. People Talk. 17 Aug. 2015,

https://peopletalk.ru/article/kak-vzroslyiy-lev-obnimaet-cheloveka/. Accessed 18 Feb. 2019.

This image depicts a lion non-aggressively hugging a human male friend.

The picture-taker wishes to share a heart-warming moment.

The person who took the picture is unknown, however, one can look up the lion.

This picture will serve as a supporting visual.

Sancenito, John. “Corporate Risk from Extremist Groups.” Journal of Business

Continuity & Emergency Planning, vol. 12, no. 1, Autumn/Fall2018 2018, pp. 17–26.

EBSCOhost,

sinclair.ohionet.org:80/login?url=https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&d

b=tsh&AN=131863434&site=eds-live.

John Sancenito uses his essay, “Corporate Risks from Extremist Groups” found on

EBSCOhost to explain to his audience that radical groups for things such as animal rights can be
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dangerous. He begins by explaining the different kinds of groups, by extremity. He also explains

the methods that some radicalists use to express their displeasure, using a graph. He touches on

methods to prevent damage, such as planning ahead and monitoring extremist groups near the

businesses that were his audience.

The writer intends to warn business owners of a real and present danger, and therefore

increase the ethos of his security company.

Sancenito is a retired police officer and detective. He has experience with this sort of

thing even before he worked for what is essentially a security company for businesses.

I feel that the information on the types of activists and how they operate in this article

will be most useful.

Stojanović Nataša. “Which Animal Rights Should Be Recognised?” Anali Pravnog

Fakulteta u Beogradu, Vol 64, Iss 3, Pp 75-92 (2016), no. 3, 2016, p. 75. EBSCOhost,

doi:10.5937/AnaliPFB1603075S.

In “Which Animal Rights Should Be Recognised?”, Natasa Stojanovic decides that

animals should have the rights to live, to be free, to not have pain or suffering inflicted on them,

to be cared for by humans, to acquire land, and to be legally protected. He begins with a brief

background on animal rights. He then works through the order, explaining how each right would

be implemented.

The writer intends to change things. It is directed to people who can bring the issue to the

government. It is written more about the law of it than why.

Natasa Stojanovic works at the University of Niš Faculty of Law where he is refereed by

the University. He does a decent job at providing information.

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I want to use this as a counter-argument, and for information on various kinds of animal

rights