Nonhuman animals of all varieties must live and thrive in an increasingly human-dominated world. Much of their time is spent trying to tell us what they want and need from us―but how can we listen?

Journalist Amelia Thomas' new book What Sheep Think About the Weather: How to Listen to What Animals Are Trying to Say nicely steers us from our human-centric view of other animals―domestic and wild, big and small―and helps us open our senses to what they are telling us. Here's what she had to say about her awe-inspiring, important, and timely new book

Marc Bekoff: Why did you write What Sheep Think About the Weather?

Amelia Thomas: As a lifelong animal lover, I’ve always been fascinated by what the creatures with whom we share our lives are constantly trying to tell us humans. But on the day I finally moved to my own, long-wished-for farm (where the animals are all much-loved pets), I realized, to my dismay, how very little I truly knew, and that much of our interaction with animals involves telling (“Sit! Stay!” “Don’t do that!”) rather than listening at all.

To redress this, I resolved to spend a year deep-diving into what animals are trying to say―not to each other, but to us―by turning to the world’s top animal-listeners in the realms of science, training and intuition: to ethologists, psychologists, rehabilitators of unadoptable dogs, trackers, trainers and even animal communicators―and, of course, by going straight to the horses’ mouths themselves.

MB: How........

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