Gould, James L.
and Carol Grant
James L. Gould is a professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at Princeton University. Carol Grant Gould is a science writer. The Goulds co-authored The Honey Bee and Sexual Selection, and were coeditors of Life on the Edge.

---

As a result of our sensory limitations, certain thoughts and ideas are difficult or impossible to formulate. The Animal Mind, 1994.

An argument first proposed by Darwin suggests that just as human anatomy and physiology are part of an evolutionary continuum that stretches back millions of years, so too the human mind is a product of stepwise natural selection. Ibid.

Our language is largely if not entirely an innate and species-specific adaptation; the choice of a mate, which fuels so much of human passion and creativity, relies on deeply ingrained criteria; culture itself is shaped by ancient guidelines. Ibid.

In short, nonhuman animals are smarter than is generally believed, and humans are not nearly as clever as we give ourselves credit for. Ibid.

When we look at other species, then, we should remember that there, but for natural selection, we might still be. Ibid.