Maddalena Bearzi is President and co-founder of the Ocean Conservation Society and a visiting scholar in the Departments of Anthropology and Biological Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. She has studied dolphins and whales in California and different parts of the world. Craig Stanford is Professor of Biological Sciences and Anthropology at the University of Southern California.

Endowed through evolution with large brains, the great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans) and the cetaceans (dolphins and whales) are second only to humans in intelligence. In this delightful and intriguing book, dolphin specialist Bearzi and primatologist Stanford discuss the similarities between these groups. Both use tools, have sophisticated means of communication and cooperation, solve problems innovatively, transmit cultural traditions to the next generation and are able to imitate others. Like humans, apes and dolphins form complex social networks, and they are capable of deception and manipulation.

• * Introduction: Beautiful Minds * An Eternal Fascination * Two Histories Afield * Swimming with Dolphins, Swinging with Apes * Dolphin and Ape Societies--Whys and Wherefores * Cognition: Minds in the Sea and Forest * Master Politicians * Culture Vultures * Toward the Roots of Human Intelligence * Conclusion: Beautiful Minds Are a Terrible Thing to Waste * Further Reading * Acknowledgments * Index

Maddalena Bearzi is President and co-founder of the Ocean Conservation Society and a visiting scholar in the Departments of Anthropology and Biological Sciences at the University of California, Los Angeles. She has studied dolphins and whales in California and different parts of the world. Craig Stanford is Professor of Biological Sciences and Anthropology at the University of Southern California.

Endowed through evolution with large brains, the great apes (chimpanzees, bonobos, gorillas, and orangutans) and the cetaceans (dolphins and whales) are second only to humans in intelligence. In this delightful and intriguing book, dolphin specialist Bearzi and primatologist Stanford discuss the similarities between these groups. Both use tools, have sophisticated means of communication and cooperation, solve problems innovatively, transmit cultural traditions to the next generation and are able to imitate others. Like humans, apes and dolphins form complex social networks, and they are capable of deception and manipulation.

• * Introduction: Beautiful Minds * An Eternal Fascination * Two Histories Afield * Swimming with Dolphins, Swinging with Apes * Dolphin and Ape Societies--Whys and Wherefores * Cognition: Minds in the Sea and Forest * Master Politicians * Culture Vultures * Toward the Roots of Human Intelligence * Conclusion: Beautiful Minds Are a Terrible Thing to Waste * Further Reading * Acknowledgments * Index