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Re:Scientist: Cats think you are just a big, stupid cat by wereHamster on Monday January 13, 2014 @12:52AM (#7049170)
I don't know if you've heard of this website 'wikipedia', if not, you should visit it sometime. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthrozoology
Re:Scientist: Cats think you are just a big, stupid cat by goodcanadian on Monday January 13, 2014 @10:50AM (#7051212)
It has been a lot of hours, so I doubt very many people will see this, but I'll try.

Wikipedia also has an entry on cryptozoology: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cryptozoology

That doesn't make it any less of a made up word used by pseudo-scientists to self describe nor does it mean I should give much credence to anything a cryptozoologist says. The key difference is that I know cryptozoology is largely pseudoscience whereas I merely suspect it in the case of anthrozoology. At least the word, "cryptozoology," is a reasonable description of what they are trying to do: the study of hidden animals. Anthrozoologoy translates roughly as man animal study, a term pregnant with meaninglessness. So, let's see what Wikipedia has to say about anthrozoology:

"Anthrozoology . . . is the study of interaction between living things."

Hey, I have friends who work in that field. They call themselves . . . "ecologists." Or, if you want to limit it to the types of interactions in the article, "animal behaviourists." They might even say that they work on "inter-species communication." So, I apologise for being dismissive of a term I have never heard before used in a context where there are other widely used terms that would seemingly be appropriate.

And to any genuine scientists out there studying human animal interactions, I genuinely apologise for my snark. It is unfortunate that my first encounter with the field of "anthrozoology" has been tainted by the inane nonsense in this article. That said, I don't think human-animal interactions have been nearly as neglected as the wikipedia article implies.

Re:Scientist: Cats think you are just a big, stupid cat by ArbitraryLimits on Monday January 13, 2014 @09:33AM (#7050719)
Wikipedia would be the very last place I'd go to verify that a made-up-sounding scientific discipline is real. Any crank worth his salt has authored twenty separate Wikipedia entries before he gets press like this.
Re:Scientist: Cats think you are just a big, stupid cat by colechristensen on Monday January 13, 2014 @02:49AM (#7049414)
To be fair 'Anthrozoology' was coined in late 2010 and it's quite likely the number of people who might call it their specialty is very small.

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=Anthrozoology

Re:Scientist: Cats think you are just a big, stupid cat by droope on Monday January 13, 2014 @04:32AM (#7049627)
Re:Scientist: Cats think you are just a big, stupid cat by colechristensen on Monday January 13, 2014 @05:11AM (#7049752)
It is not at all clear what point you are trying to make. Put in a little effort.
Re:Scientist: Cats think you are just a big, stupid cat by headlights on Tuesday January 14, 2014 @05:09PM (#7060139)
Anthrozoology has a much lower search interest than dentistry and is localised in the United States.
Re:Scientist: Cats think you are just a big, stupid cat by headlights on Tuesday January 14, 2014 @01:38PM (#7058801)
You bring spite.