{"product_id":"playing-possum-how-animals-understand-death-9780691260778","title":"Playing Possum: How Animals Understand Death","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eHow animals conceive of death and dying--and what it can teach us about our own relationships with mortality\u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhen the opossum feels threatened, she becomes paralyzed. Her body temperature plummets, her breathing and heart rates drop to a minimum, and her glands simulate the smell of a putrefying corpse. \u003ci\u003ePlaying Possum\u003c\/i\u003e explores what the opossum and other creatures can teach us about how we and other species understand mortality, and demonstrates that the concept of death, far from being a uniquely human attribute, is widespread in the animal kingdom. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWith humor and empathy, Susana Monsó tells the stories of ants who attend their own funerals, chimpanzees who clean the teeth of their dead, dogs who snack on their caregivers, crows who avoid the places where they saw a carcass, elephants obsessed with collecting ivory, and whales who carry their dead for weeks. Monsó, one of today's leading experts on animal cognition and ethics, shows how there are more ways to conceive of mortality than the human way, and challenges the notion that the only emotional reactions to death worthy of our attention are ones that resemble our own. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eBlending philosophical insight with new evidence from behavioral science and comparative psychology, \u003ci\u003ePlaying Possum\u003c\/i\u003e dispels the anthropocentric biases that cloud our understanding of the natural world, and reveals that, when it comes to death and dying, we are just another animal.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Susana Monsó\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Princeton University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 04\/14\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 264\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.52lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 7.81h x 5.06w x 0.66d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780691260778\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSusana Monsó\u003c\/b\u003e is associate professor of philosophy in the Department of Logic, History, and Philosophy of Science at the National Distance Education University (UNED) in Madrid.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"booksdeli.com","offers":[{"title":"Susana Mons\u0026#195;\u0026#179; \/ Paperback \/ English","offer_id":47858824052893,"sku":"9780691260778","price":35.9,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0619\/5648\/9373\/files\/img_4363b45f-7560-4732-8c87-4f4295a46660.jpg?v=1776861165","url":"https:\/\/booksdeli.com\/products\/playing-possum-how-animals-understand-death-9780691260778","provider":"booksdeli.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}