Anthrozoology: Human-Animal Interactions in Domesticated and Wild Animals
Geoff Hosey and Vicky Melfi
Abstract
Anthrozoology, the study of human–animal interactions (HAIs), has experienced substantial growth during the past twenty years and it is now timely to synthesise what we know from empirical evidence about our relationships with both domesticated and wild animals. Two principal points of focus have become apparent in much of this research. One is the realisation that the strength of these attachments not only has emotional benefits for people, but confers health benefits as well, such that a whole area has opened up of using companion animals for therapeutic purposes. The other is the recognitio ... More
Anthrozoology, the study of human–animal interactions (HAIs), has experienced substantial growth during the past twenty years and it is now timely to synthesise what we know from empirical evidence about our relationships with both domesticated and wild animals. Two principal points of focus have become apparent in much of this research. One is the realisation that the strength of these attachments not only has emotional benefits for people, but confers health benefits as well, such that a whole area has opened up of using companion animals for therapeutic purposes. The other is the recognition that the interactions we have with animals have consequences for their welfare too, and thus impact on their quality of life. Consequently, we now study HAIs in all scenarios in which animals come into contact with humans, whether as pets/companions, farm livestock, laboratory animals, animals in zoos or in the wild. This topical area of study is of growing importance for animals in animal management, animal handling, animal welfare and applied ethology courses, and also for people within psychology, anthropology and human geography at both the undergraduate and postgraduate level. It will therefore be of interest to students, researchers and animal managers across the whole spectrum of human–animal contact.
Keywords:
Human–animal studies,
human–animal relationships,
human–animal interactions,
human–animal bonds,
animal behaviour,
animal welfare,
companion animals,
laboratory animals,
agricultural animals,
zoos
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2018 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198753629 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: February 2019 |
DOI:10.1093/oso/9780198753629.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Geoff Hosey, editor
Formerly Principal Lecturer in Biology, University of Bolton, UK
Vicky Melfi, editor
Principal Lecturer: Human-Animal Interactions, Hartpury University Centre, Hartpury College, Gloucester, UK
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