Stories of Animal Psyche

Abstract

There is an abundance of research on animal behaviors when faced with human activity: reports on urban coyotes, beaver-induced flooding, and more. However, this research is only available to people who seek out scientific articles to read, and thus the information remains undistributed to the wider population. This project is designed to bridge that gap, by taking such reports and transforming them into short stories– creative writing from the animal’s perspective, following them and their thoughts as they face the challenges presented by humans every day. A raccoon interrupts a marsh restoration project by eating ribbed mussels that are valuable to the revitalization of the wetland, a beaver rebuilds its dam time and time again despite sabotage by indignant humans, and a coyote family fends off deadly threats to their pups when fear of the small predators envelops a nearby town. An emotional, deep story will invoke a more passionate response than unfeeling, complicated reports, and can reach a much wider audience. In many cultures, telling stories has always been the way to pass knowledge from one generation to the next, so we are continuing that trajectory, in the hopes of spreading knowledge and understanding to those long deprived of it.