Playing Possum Quotes

“In contrast to other branches of science and the humanities, philosophy lacks a predetermined object of study. There can be philosophy of anything because philosophy is a method, a way of looking at the world and reflecting on it, rather than the study of a particular, concrete phenomenon. This allows philosophers to be in constant dialog with other areas of knowledge, to move with ease from one discipline to another, to take nothing for granted, to question every assumption, and to offer refreshing and innovative points of view that can serve as catalysts for any debate.”
― Susana Monsó, Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death

“We also don’t like to see ourselves as the predators we are. The carcasses that city dwellers in the Global North consume come packaged in hygienic containers without a drop of blood, cut into neat little pieces so that they don’t remind us too much of the animal to which they once belonged. Slaughterhouses are in the outskirts of neighborhoods, conveniently hidden from our view. We eat ham, pork, beef, instead of the remains of an animal who once lived, breathed, felt.”
― Susana Monsó, Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death

“There are descriptions of self-mutilations in animals who are locked up in zoos, as well as in laboratory rodents who have been administered stimulating drugs. Cases have also been reported in domestic animals. Some horses, for instance, have shown a tendency to bite themselves, as well as kick and lunge at objects. Among cats and dogs it’s also relatively common to see compulsive self-licking, nibbling, or scratching, which in extreme cases can result in serious injuries…

Somewhat more suggestive cases are of dolphins who have supposedly ended their own lives. At least two cases have been reported, both occurring in dolphins who were captured from the wild and held captive in inadequate conditions. One is dolphin Kathy, the “actor” who portrayed Flipper for the longest period of time on the TV series of the same name. The other is Peter, a dolphin from the 1960s led by John Lilly, which involved the psychedelic drug LSD, zoophilia, and attempts on behalf of the experimenters to communicate verbally and telepathically with the dolphins. Both Kathy and Peter ended their own lives by voluntarily stopping breathing, according to the witnesses.”
― Susana Monsó, Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death

“[…The] mirror test also presupposes that the tested animals care about their appearance in one way or another, for something like this is necessary for them to have the motivation to interact with the mark that has been placed on them. However, it’s not immediately clear that other animals are vain enough to care about their own looks.”
― Susana Monsó, Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death

“To illustrate this, let me tell you a short story. When my brother was a kid, one day he brought home a tiny slug that he had found in the garden. He was exhilarated by his discovery; he held the minute slug in his grubby little hand while he proudly said to my mother: “Look Mom! It’s my new pet, his name is Babosín!” My mother, horrified by the presence in her home of this creature who looked like a mutant boofer, grabbed poor Babosín with a piece of paper and flushed it down the toilet without hesitation, unperturbed by the prospect of her son’s imminent tantrum. I still remember my brother’s cry as the flush took the mollusc’s life: “Noooo! Babosíííín!” The trauma was such that, when choosing his next pet, my brother opted for a plastic lizard instead.

The purpose of my sharing this anecdote is not just to embarrass my brother, but also to illustrate that no concrete emotion needs to follow from a concept of death. For my brother, Babosín’s demise was a tragedy. For my mother, it was a relief. And yet, both had correctly processed that Babosín had died.”
― Susana Monsó, Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death

“This ability to distinguish biological movement appears to be highly conserved in the animal kingdom, having been demonstrated in species of mammals, birds, fish, and spiders. In fact, it might even be innate in some species. In one study, newborn chicks were placed on a runway with a video projected on either side, each depicting points of light with biological or nonbiological movement, similar to the ones in Blake’s experiment (see figure 10). The chicks showed a clear preference for the biological movement, even when it corresponded to a cat’s and not a chicken’s. What’s most interesting about this is that the chicks had been bred in the dark, and had not had any visual experience until that moment, which is evidence that this preference in them is innate and not learned. And, once again, it doesn’t manifest when the image is inverted and therefore doesn’t follow the law of gravity.”
― Susana Monsó, Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death

“At the same time, animals that are very cognitively complex tend to have a slow development (although there are exceptions to this, such as the common octopus, whose life expectancy in the wild barely surpasses one year, and yet they are exceedingly smart).”
― Susana Monsó, Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death

“Not only this- the mirror test also presupposes that the tested animals care about their appearance in one way or another, for something like this is necessary for them to have the motivation to interact with the mark that has been placed on them. However, it’s not immediately clear that other animals are vain enough to care about their own looks.”
― Susana Monsó, Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death

“These anecdotes included one in which a chimpanzee who was courting a female suddenly hid his erection with his hands upon the appearance of a dominant male”
― Susana Monsó, Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death

“After a while, the human caretakers called the chimpanzees to the feeding building and most of them left the place where the body lay, with the exception of two females, mother and daughter, who remained next to the corpse. The mother, who had had an especially close relationship with the deceased, carefully examined his face and then grabbed a grass stem and began to clean his teeth. She spent several minutes engaged in this task, all the while remaining under her daughter’s attentive gaze.”
― Susana Monsó, Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death