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What Does Animal Madness Teach Us About Our Own?

Part 4 of the TED Radio Hour episode Animals And Us.

About Laurel Braitman's TED Talk

From compulsive bears to self-destructive rats, science historian Laurel Braitman studies animals with mental health issues and asks what we can learn from them.

About Laurel Braitman

Laurel Braitman is a science historian who wants to know: Why is your cat so sad? For her book Animal Madness, she delves into the history of mental illness in animals, revealing a world of parrots that pluck themselves, cats with PTSD and donkeys with deep neuroses. Braitman holds a Ph.D in history and anthropology of science from MIT and works as an affiliate artist at the Headlands Center for the Arts.

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NPR/TED Staff