8+ hour, 5+ min ago (526+ words) Posted November 24, 2025 | Reviewed by Davia Sills Children are wired to attach. We reach for protection and regulation from someone who can calm our fears and hold our emotions. When caregivers can't offer that'because of stress, absence, or their own unhealed pain'a child's attachment system doesn't stop seeking. It looks for another place to land. Animals often become that place. An attachment to an animal offers consistency: a dog who greets you with joy, no matter the emotional climate at home. Animals also provide soothing presence through a cat's purr, the slow breathing of a horse, or the warm weight of a rabbit settling on your knees. These somatic cues can shift a child out of vigilance and into ease. And unlike many humans, animals don't need explanations or emotional performances. Their affection is uncomplicated; they stay simply because they choose…...

3+ week, 2+ hour ago (576+ words) Posted November 4, 2025 | Reviewed by Kaja Perina 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? MB: How does your book relate to your background and general areas of interest? AT: For hundreds of years, my family were British farmers, and I…...