| RELATED INFO |
| * School of Veterinary Medicine |
| * Center for the Human-Animal Bond |
September 13, 2007
Author, anthropologist to speak at Purdue-Lilly lecture series
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - |
The lecture, which is free and open to the public, will be in the grand ballroom at the University Plaza Hotel (formerly University Inn and Conference Center). It is part of the annual Fall Conference for Veterinarians and Veterinary Technicians, held by the School of Veterinary Medicine. The annual lecture series is funded by a gift to Purdue's Center for the Human-Animal Bond from Eli Lilly and Co. to foster greater understanding of the relationship between people and their pets.
"Elizabeth Marshall Thomas spoke to a packed room at our inaugural session for the lecture series at the North American Veterinary Conference in Florida last January," said Alan Beck, director of the center and Dorothy N. McAllister Professor of Animal Ecology. "Her original fame is in anthropology through her studies with elephants, but people know her best for her work with dogs and cats."
Thomas is widely known for her books "The Hidden Life of Dogs," its sequel "The Social Life of Dogs" and "Tribe of Tiger." She also wrote the novels "Reindeer Moon" and "The Animal Wife." She will speak about the relationship people have with their pets.
"We each have our own reasons for the relationship," Thomas said. "In the case of people, it comes from our hunter-gatherer past. In the case of dogs, it's their wolf ancestry. I'm going to talk about the origins of the reason people feel they need dogs and cats, and specifically address prehistoric needs."
The series funds a speaker at one national veterinary conference per year as well as a lecture at Purdue during the annual fall conference. Future speakers will explore broad areas of the human-animal relationship, including veterinary policy, the importance of domestic animals to the veterinary community, major aspects of health, and the true nature of humans' relationship with animals, Beck said.
For information, contact the center at (765) 494-0854.
Writer: Maggie Morris, (765) 494-2432, maggiemorris@purdue.edu
Source: Alan Beck, (765) 494-0854, abeck@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
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