Virginia Morell on animal behavior Virginia Morell on animal behavior Virginia Morell sheds light on the many surprises of cognitive awareness of animals in her book Animal Wise: The Thoughts and Emotions of Our Fellow Creatures. [...] they evaluate the size of the space, and they determine if it's large enough for them to set up shop, the place to have the eggs and the young ants and the queen, and to do the things they need to do," she says. Parrots and dolphins have "signature contact calls and whistles," and even regional accents, according to Morell's research. Female rats don't like the male rats who weren't allowed to play, they like to have the rats who understand what it is to be social.