Animal smarts: A Q&A with primatologist Frans de Waal

In popular books, academic articles, a TED talk, and countless lectures, the prominent Dutch primatologist Frans De Waal has spent his career showing just how many capacities and traits once thought to be distinctly human – from face-recognition to inequality aversion – are in fact broadly shared by many other species of primates. His new book, "Are We Smart Enough To Know How Smart Animals Are" argues that impressive forms of animal intelligence occur throughout the animal kingdom, not simply in the primate order. Our own preconceptions may be the main obstacle to recognizing animal intelligence. Until the 1980s researchers usually described animals with the terms "learning" and "instincts" but not "cognition." That's changed – now almost every week there's a new finding in animal cognition.