Sobs and smiles

Jeffrey Masson and Susan McCarthy make a strong case for the anecdotal in animal behaviour in When Elephants Weep (Vintage, £6.99, ISBN 0 09 947891 9), a plea for consideration of the feelings of others. In this case, others are animals. But it’s odd to hear that scientists have neglected animal emotions when the book is full of evidence to the contrary from Darwin to Jane Goodall. And it shows that we don’t even yet agree on how to classify human emotions, let alone those of other animals.