When I watch animals, I realize I am watching individual with lives that matter, to them. It isn't just another chicken or another mouse. She is that particular hen, autonomous and unique. He is that particular mouse with a unique life and social identity.

Anyone who's lived with companion cats or dogs knows that they are unique individuals with their own personalities. I think animals' secret to getting along is that they are not burdened by an ego.

From my earliest memories I was fascinated by animals. I would explore my backyard for insects and gaze at anthills until my elbows became sore. When I was 8, my mother bought me a book of North American birds and I've been keen on birdwatching since.

We have to realize that treating animals well is in our best interests, too. Cruelty is indivisible; when you are cruel to an animal, you are training yourself to be cruel to people, too (and vice versa).

Humankind won't find peace as long as we're treating feeling animals as if they were so many blocks of wood.

They (animals) are not just living things; they are beings with lives... that makes all the difference in the world...next time you are outside...notice the first bird you see…you are beholding a unique individual with personality traits, an emotional profile, and a library of knowledge built on experience…what you are witnessing is not just biology, but a biography.

I think we're insecure about our self-imposed spot at the top of the pyramid of life. New studies are continually undermining our superiority complex and forcing us to reconsider our relationship to animals.