Inkwell: Authors and Artists

    
I had a cat who responded only to bird silhouettes on tv.  But those were
very exicting and triggered that little snickery hunter noise.  On the other
hand, there's a commercial video of kitty prey a lot of cats adore.
Mice running.  Birds.  A vexsome squirrel.
  

    
There's a lot of those videos, specialized too for cats that respond mostly
to birds or to rodents or to fish.  Satchel yearns after doves outside the
window, but I haven't had them on TV enough to figure out his reaction.

Occasionally, he'll look sharply at a cat sound from the TV, but he finds
only some of them convincing.
  

    
Oo, I love the story about Satchel & the wolf howl.  And that's just how
wolves like cats to feel....
  

    
It's fun to watch the baby ducks learn what food is by watching their
older siblings. "Huh, everyone is getting excited and going and
sticking their bills in this. I guess I'll do it, too." 

I've also seen what appears to be ducklings going over to a straggler
to let them know that there's food over there.
  

    

the wolf howl must be to cats what a big spider is to us.
  

    
The wolf howl might have made YOU have some involuntary reaction that the
cat was picking up.
  

    
The ducks going over to the other excited noisy ducklings is a kind of
learning sometimes scorned as stimulus enhancement or locality
enhancement (as opposed to Real True Imitation).  The ducklings
visiting the straggler could be empathy & kindness, or it could be
checking the situation out "Why doesn't Ducky Daddles join us?  Could
it be that he has something... BETTER?"
  

    
That could be, yeah.

There are six older baby ducks (some of them almost grown) outside.
Three of them go in a chicken tractor during the day, while the other
three are free range. They want to be together; the elder ones nestle
outside the chicken tractor and the younger ones try to get out of it.
They run around in a mob when they're all out of it, and they follow
each other around. It's pretty funny to watch, especially when they all
run into a wall or something.
  

    
No, I was reading sumac's book and reacted to the wolf call the same way I
reacted to the rest of the radio programme.  (I say programme of course
because it was BBC.)  Until the cat started, then I responded to that by
looking at him, and trying to reassure him.
  

    
Susan, you've written about animal's emotions and now about the learning
process animals go through to become successful adults. If you could write
any book you wanted, what would you like to write about next?
  

    

I was playing around with my cell phone last night. The ringer called
"Fuer Elize" did not alarm the cats, but the one called "Bizet" had
their ears swinging like radar dishes.

I just re-read the story about the dolphins leaning too far and chuckled
again. THe lions in trees was pretty cute, too...
  

    
I like the bit near the end where we learn that dog pups can do cold
readings of people, but wolf pups cannot.
  

    
(went out and bought the book tonight)
  

    
(I gotta get one for me and one for my mom)

Do people bring you anecdotes when you do book events or radio interviews,
sumac?  Any memorable tales people have dragged in and batted around for
your benefit?
  

    
Judging by this topic, it would seem so!

I, too, am ordering multiple copies for upcoming gift occasions.
  

    
I can't believe it's been two whole weeks since this interview launched!
What a fascinating subject, and what a great discussion. I want to thank
Susan and Cynthia for joining us. This has been so much fun, I don't want 
it to end.

It doesn't have to end, either. Though we've turned our virtual spotlight
onto a new conversation in Inkwell.vue, this exploration of animal learning
can continue as long as you like, Susan. The topic will remain open
indefinitely.
  

    
(still reading...)
  

    
I am logging on from a Kinko's in DC, where I did a talk at the
Smithsonain, which was v. v. thrilling to me---even though I sold few
books.  I will try to answer the last few questions tomorrow, when I
do not have to operate under such awkward condtions....
  

    
The Smithsonian!  Woohoo!  that's great.
  

    

I keep forgetting what this book is about.
  

    
You better buy another copy and read it again, plum!
  

    
Susan, are there any author events planned for you near Santa Rosa, CA
anytime soon????
  

    
but <sumac>, o perfect teller of animal tales, yr admirers
would keep you here forever telling wonderful stories of
creatures and their doings....so perhaps you should
ask yr audience: 'ye who love animal stories/what ideas
do -you- have for Selling More Books?'
  

    
(cdb), I don't really know what I'd like to write a book about next.
One subject I like is the ethical dilemmas of wildlife rehab, but I
tried to sell that idea before, and no publisher wanted it, unless I
did it in a format I reject (following the story of One Heroic Rehabber),
and even if I *did* get to do it my way, I'm not sure it would sell.
  

    
(gail), people tell me lots of anecdotes about animals, which I love.
Often they're not fully-formed stories.  Sometimes people say "This
happened, but nobody believes me!  What do you think?"  More often than
not I do believe them.  I totally believe that one woman's gramndmother's
parakeet, which flew free in the house, understood commands like "Go wake
Marcia up" and would fly into the bedroom, land on Marcia's chest, and
cry "Marcia!  Marcia Lynn!  It's time to go to school!"  (And I don't
think it's a coincidence that this talented budgie got to fly free.)

Another woman told me a story about a dog they had when she was a kid,
which would always spin with excitement in the front hall for several
minutes before the father got home from work.  They figured the dog
knew the sound of the car.  Then one day the father went to Chicago to
buy a new car, and there was a snowstorm.  They figured he would stay
in Chi with his relatives, since the snow was bad (and in those days she
said you didn't go phoning people about little stuff like that).  Late
in the evening the dog started to spin, and sure enough a few minutes
later the father arrived, having driven up in a car the dog could
never have heard before.  "What do you think?"

A) I believe it.  B) I don't believe that the dog was psychic (which I
think she hoped I would say).  C) I told her that I thought the dog
could hear the car at a greater distance than the people could and that
the dog not only knew the sound of their car's engine, but that I
suspect it recognized the characteristic pattern of his shifting gears
(she conveniently mentioned that they lived on a hill), so that even
in a new car with an unfamilar engine sound, the dog recognized the
father's typical shifting pattern.