The domestication of animals

Juliet Clutton‐Brock. Domesticated Animals from Early Times.Austin: University of Texas Press; London: The British Museum, 1981. 208 pp. $24.95.     

Maya and their animals

Hamblin, Nancy L. Animal Use by the Cozumel Maya. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1984. vii + 206 pp. including references and index. $23.00 cloth.     

用“大炮”追摄“西部英雄”们

说它们是英雄,是因为它们生活在海拔4500米以上的高原,那里空气稀薄,气候恶劣。它们不但在这样的环境下能生活下去,而且看起来还那么有活力。比顽强,有谁的生命能比它们的更顽强吗?比乐观,在朝不保夕的猎食中,谁的乐观还能胜过它们吗?这广袤的西部高原,如果没有了这些生灵,将会是什么样?我们这次西部之行,很大一部分也是为着它们去的,这些让人魂牵梦绕的精灵,我们崇拜它们,像崇拜英雄一样。还好,我们不但见到了,还拍下了它们,而且,我们和它们之间,还有了故事。     

The construction of hunting sceneries: Interactions between humans,animals and landscape in the Antofalla valley,Catamarca, Argentina

Through the history of human occupation in the south-central Andes, the interactions between south-American camelids and human populations were essential in the social reproduction, being hunting one of the appropriation modes of greater long term. In this sense, the way in which encounters between hunters and their preys were materialized becomes a relevant subject in order to understand these interactions. That is why in this paper I pretend to show the way in which the landscape were constructed where the encounters between hunters and their preys were given. For this, I shall focus in the information obtained from the intensive and systematic survey developed in the Antofalla valley, located in the Antofagasta de la Sierra Department, Catamarca Province, Argentina. This information has allowed me to identify a series of structures build with the aim of propitiate the encounter of herds by means of anticipating the movements of the animals, searching to obtain near and fixed targets in order to materialize the attack.     

Descartes and the pineal gland in animals: A frequent misinterpretation

Abstract

Rene Descartes presented a number of reasons for his choice of the pineal gland as a logical place for the soul to interact with the physical machinery of the body. It is often stated that one of his reasons was that be believed animals do not have pineal glands, whereas humans alone possess a soul and this small structure. This is a misinterpretation of Descartes. The philosopher knew that barnyard and other animals possess pineal glands, having seen this with his own eyes. His point was that the pineal is unique in humans only because of a special function — acting as the seat for the rational soul.     

Descartes and the pineal gland in animals: a frequent misinterpretation

René Descartes presented a number of reasons for his choice of the pineal gland as a logical place for the soul to interact with the physical machinery of the body. It is often stated that one of his reasons was that he believed animals do not have pineal glands, whereas humans alone possess a soul and this small structure. This is a misinterpretation of Descartes. The philosopher knew that barnyard and other animals possess pineal glands, having seen this with his own eyes. His point was that the pineal is unique in humans only because of a special function - acting as the seat for the rational soul.     

Holy cow!: the miraculous cures of animals in late medieval England1

Interactions between saints and animals have been the focus of modern scholarship, yet an important aspect has been neglected, namely that of the saint as healer of animals, when a third party has requested help on behalf of the animal. This article therefore examines, through examples drawn from saints' Vitae and other sources, the types of animals for which saintly intervention was sought, the ailments from which they suffered, and the form which their cure took, in order to understand why medieval people turned to the saints when their animals were ill. An examination of this relationship between saint and animal will not only elucidate the role of saint as thaumaturge, but will also shed light on the veterinary aspect of animal welfare.