What A Fish Knows

In this dynamic, richly illustrated presentation, ethologist Jonathan Balcombe, PhD, takes us under the sea, through streams and estuaries, and to the other side of the aquarium glass to reveal the surprising capabilities of fishes. Although they exceed thirty thousand species ― more than all mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians combined ― fishes are rarely considered by us to be individuals with thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Combining science with stories and the author’s own personal experiences, What A Fish Knows upends our common biases toward fishes as primitive and dull, showing them instead to be sentient, aware, social, and even Machiavellian. Jonathan Balcombe is the director of animal sentience at the Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy and the author of a number of books, including Second Nature, Pleasurable Kingdom, and the newly released New York Times bestseller What A Fish Knows. Balcombe has three biology degrees, including a PhD in ethology from the University of Tennessee, where he studied communication in bats. A popular commentator, he has appeared on Fresh Air with Terry Gross, the BBC, and the National Geographic Channel, and in several documentaries, and has contributed features and opinions to The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, Nature, and other publications. He lives in Florida. Find him on Facebook, follow him on Twitter at @Jonathanpb1959, and visit his website at jonathan-balcombe.com. If you'd like to rebroadcast this, please contact us at [email protected]. (A version that can fit in a 1-hour time slot is also available.) These videos are made possible by the generous support of viewers like you. Please consider supporting these videos: http://www.vsh.org/support