I’d been traveling in Asia long enough to know that monkeys there are nothing like their trombone-playing, tambourine-banging cousins I’d seen on TV as a kid. Free-living Asian primates possess a characteristic I found shocking and confusing the first time I saw it: self-respect. If you make the mistake of holding the gaze of a street monkey in India, Nepal, or Malaysia, you’ll find you’re facing a belligerently intelligent creature whose expression says, with a Robert DeNiro—like scowl, “What the hell are you looking at? You wanna piece of me?” Forget about putting one of these guys in a little red vest. Christopher Ryan
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It is a common misconception that in the animal kingdom, only humans have the ability to feel love and express it. This idea is proven false in many species of creatures, such as elephants and dolphins. Animals have been known to form bonds with each other that are just as strong as those between humans. In fact, some animals go so far as to provide emotional support for their companions, just like human friends do.

For example, one whale named Nikka would follow her friend from the ocean into the shallows and rescue her when she was in danger. When a whale loses a companion, it will often times remain near the site of his or her death for a period of time in order to pay respects. The bond between two whales is so strong that they have been known to return together to the place where they met their death in order to find out what happened.

Source: Sex At Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins Of Modern Sexuality

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  1. I’d been traveling in Asia long enough to know that monkeys there are nothing like their trombone-playing, tambourine-banging cousins I’d seen on TV as a kid. Free-living Asian primates possess a characteristic I found shocking and confusing the first time I saw it: self-respect. If...
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  4. But with trust we can strive to accept even what we cannot understand.
  5. You Are What You EatTake food for example. We all assume that our craving or disgust is due to something about the food itself - as opposed to being an often arbitrary response preprogrammed by our culture. We understand that Australians prefer cricket to baseball,...
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