Barbara J. King
Barbara J. King is a contributor to the NPR blog 13.7: Cosmos & Culture. She is a Chancellor Professor of Anthropology at the College of William and Mary. With a long-standing research interest in primate behavior and human evolution, King has studied baboon foraging in Kenya and gorilla and bonobo communication at captive facilities in the United States.
Recently, she has taken up writing about animal emotion and cognition more broadly, including in bison, farm animals, elephants and domestic pets, as well as primates.
King's most recent book is How Animals Grieve (University of Chicago Press, 2013). Her article "When Animals Mourn" in the July 2013 Scientific American has been chosen for inclusion in the 2014 anthology The Best American Science and Nature Writing. King reviews non-fiction for the Times Literary Supplement (London) and is at work on a new book about the choices we make in eating other animals. She was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship for her work in 2002.
-
In his new book, primate behavior researcher Frans de Waal writes that "emotions are everywhere in the animal kingdom, from fish to birds to insects and even in brainy mollusks such as the octopus."
-
For many, Afghanistan does not at first conjure up images of black bears and musk deer. But that's just what Alex Dehgan found when his team went there in hope of establishing the first national park.
-
Anthropologist Barbara J. King says Hurricane Florence should lead us to look beyond the agriculture industry's loss of "inventory" and view animals as thinking, feeling — and suffering — beings.
-
New evidence suggests Neanderthals made cave art — and they may also have created religious rituals. It's time to let go of Neanderthal-human "border policing," says anthropologist Barbara J. King.
-
In step with Matthew Engelke's book published Tuesday, Barbara J. King says thinking anthropologically has never been more critical than in today's world, where assumptions are made and shared widely.
-
Following the example of an elephant caught on video that apparently thanked human rescuers, anthropologist Barbara King gives a shout-out to new campaigns that help farmed animals.
-
Would you eat beef, chicken, even foie gras grown from animal cells in the lab? Anthropologist Barbara J. King takes a look at new food technologies.
-
Polynesia was colonized by the French and, even today, Polynesians are taught more about French history than their own. A new archaeological project aims to help change that, says Barbara J. King.
-
Gorilla naturalist? Barbara J. King suggests watching this young male gorilla in the Virunga Mountains during his close-up encounter with a baby owl.
-
Tiny filler words in human rapid-fire conversation hold the key to understanding how language is unique, according to a new book. But anthropologist Barbara J. King raises some questions.