''Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior '' is a 2005 book by

Temple Grandin Mary Temple Grandin (born August 29, 1947) is an American academic and animal behaviorist. She is a prominent proponent for the humane treatment of livestock for slaughter and the author of more than 60 scientific papers on animal behavior. Gra ...

and co-written by Catherine Johnson. ''Animals in Translation'' explores the similarity between animals and people with autism, a concept that was originally touched upon in Grandin's 1995 book '' Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism''.

Background

Temple Grandin is a specialist in animal behavior, has received a Ph.D. from the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

, and is a professor at

Colorado State University Colorado State University (Colorado State or CSU) is a public land-grant research university in Fort Collins, Colorado. It is the flagship university of the Colorado State University System. Colorado State University is classified among "R1: ...

. Grandin works as a consultant to the American beef industry, designing

slaughterhouse A slaughterhouse, also called abattoir (), is a facility where animals are slaughtered to provide food. Slaughterhouses supply meat, which then becomes the responsibility of a packaging facility. Slaughterhouses that produce meat that is no ...

equipment that has been extensively adopted within the United States agricultural industry, even being employed by

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational fast food chain store, chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechri ...

. An estimated 90% of all cattle slaughtered in the United States and Canada are done so according to standards and equipment designed by Grandin.

Oliver Sacks Oliver Wolf Sacks, (9 July 1933 – 30 August 2015) was a British neurologist, naturalist, historian of science, and writer. Born in Britain, Sacks received his medical degree in 1958 from The Queen's College, Oxford, before moving to the Uni ...

's 1995 book ''

An Anthropologist on Mars ''An Anthropologist on Mars: Seven Paradoxical Tales'' is a 1995 book by neurologist Oliver Sacks consisting of seven medical case histories of individuals with neurological conditions such as autism and Tourette syndrome. ''An Anthropologist on ...

'' included Grandin as part of a neurological study. This book first brought Grandin to the public's attention, with her self description of her experiences being like an "

anthropologist An anthropologist is a person engaged in the practice of anthropology. Anthropology is the study of aspects of humans within past and present societies. Social anthropology, cultural anthropology and philosophical anthropology study the norms and ...

Mars Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun and the second-smallest planet in the Solar System, only being larger than Mercury (planet), Mercury. In the English language, Mars is named for the Mars (mythology), Roman god of war. Mars is a terr ...

" being used as the title.

Content

In Grandin's second book ''Thinking in Pictures: My Life with Autism'' (released in 1995), she explained how her brain receives input as a typical person's brain does, but rather than converting it into words it remains visual. ''Animals in Translation'' expands on this concept, suggesting that her

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

allows her to focus on visual details more intensely, which allows her to "take in the world as animals do". Grandin suggests that people with autism are similar to animals, as they "see, feel and think in remarkably similar ways". Based on this idea, Grandin goes on to explain that all animals are more intelligent and more sensitive than humans assume them to be, and should be given a "good life...with something useful to do". In ''Animals in Translation'', Grandin's explains her theory of why people with autism and animals are so similar. Grandin's theory is that the

frontal lobe The frontal lobe is the largest of the four major lobes of the brain in mammals, and is located at the front of each cerebral hemisphere (in front of the parietal lobe and the temporal lobe). It is parted from the parietal lobe by a groove betwe ...

s of people with autism do not function the same as those of typical person, and the brain function of a person with autism falls "between human and animal". Grandin goes on to explain that while typical people are good at seeing the "big picture", people with autism are more detail oriented. Grandin's sensitivity to details has allowed her to see things that humans have been doing to animals for years that are "traumatizing" them, even maintaining a list of "18 tiny details that scare farm animals". The list includes things such as reflections on smooth metal, jiggling chains, and one-way gates.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Animals In Translation 2005 non-fiction books Books about autism Books about animal rights Books by Temple Grandin