Synopses & Reviews
New York Times Bestseller
"Game-changing." New York Times Book Review
Mama's Last Hug is a fascinating exploration of the rich emotional lives of animals, beginning with Mama, a chimpanzee matriarch who formed a deep bond with biologist Jan van Hooff. Her story and others like it — from dogs "adopting" the injuries of their companions, to rats helping fellow rats in distress, to elephants revisiting the bones of their loved ones — show that humans are not the only species with the capacity for love, hate, fear, shame, guilt, joy, disgust, and empathy. Frans de Waal opens our hearts and minds to the many ways in which humans and other animals are connected.
Review
"This is an important book, wise and accessible.”
Robert Sapolsky, author of Behave: The Biology of Humans at Our Best and Worst
Review
De Waal has spent so many decades watching intently and thinking deeply that he sees a planet that is deeper and more beautiful than almost anyone realizes. In these pages, you can acquire and share his beautiful, shockingly insightful view of life on Earth.” Carl Safina, author of Beyond Worlds: What Animals Think and Feel
Review
“Through colorful stories and riveting prose, de Waal firmly puts to rest the stubborn notion that humans alone in the animal kingdom experience a broad array of emotions.” NPR
Review
“A captivating and big-hearted book, full of compassion and brimming with insights about the lives of animals, including human ones.”
Yuval Noah Harari, New York Times best-selling author of Sapiens
About the Author
Frans de Waal, author of Mama's Last Hug and Are We Smart Enough to Know How Smart Animals Are?, is a professor of psychology at Emory University and director of the Living Links Center at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.