Why we set out to uncover the mysteries of animal minds

Scientists are making discoveries about what animals such as dogs and ravens think and feel, which will likely have broad implications for our relationships with Earth’s creatures.

Until recently I lived in a magical corner of the city of Seattle, on a hillside overlooking Puget Sound, surrounded by thick stands of big-leaf maples interspersed with mature fir, cedar, and spruce trees. My husband, Charles, and I shared this patch of nature with abundant wildlife: coyotes, weasels and river otters, deer, and all manner of birds.

In our last few months there, we became transfixed by ongoing hostilities between a barred owl roosting in one of our maples and a murder of crows. No matter the time of day, when the crows spotted the owl, they would surround it, caw incessantly, dive-bomb, and generally harass the bird.

It was hard not to feel sorry for the owl, which was, to

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