The Creative Lives of Animals

In her finely written study The Creative Lives of Animals, Carol Gigliotti notes that while invention among animals to express personality or communicate with others is accepted today, there were many doubters previously. Resistance to acknowledging ingenious creativity in animals stems from a focus on humans and their supposed exceptionality. Each species is unique, and there are exceptional talents across species, whether emergent through adaptation or intellectual flexibility. Just as humans create to accommodate their needs and desires, so do animals, whether a bird who reasons how to open a milk container or a bird who constructs an ornate bower to attract a mate. Animal creativity, Gigliotti assures, is heard every day in bird songs, which change over time through improvisation. She affirms that the creative lives of animals indicate their high degree of self-awareness and consciousness of others, just as humans, or more precisely human-like “animals,” employ original acts...