Susana Monsó wins Science Book of the Year!

Have you ever thought about whether animals understand death? Well, they might very well do. This year's “Science Book of the Year” award in the science/technology category has been awarded to Spanish philosopher Susana Monsó, who argues in favor of a concept of death in animals by combining philosophical conceptualization with empirical evidence from animal behavior. 

The prize is awarded annually by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Women, Science, and Research. Susana wrote her book "Das Schweigen der Schimpansen. Wie Tiere den Tod verstehen" while working at the Messerli Research Institute in Vienna, funded by a FWF Research Grant. Her book has been called "thoughtful", "meticulous," and "extremely moving." Since it was first released in early 2021 it has been translated into several languages and is a truly nice read!

"Chimpanzees clean the teeth of their dead companions. Crows avoid places where they have found carcasses. Elephants obsessively collect ivory. Whales carry their dead through the sea for weeks. Yet, humans stubbornly believe that they alone are capable of grasping their own mortality. For since time immemorial, the anthropocentric perspective has obscured the diversity of ways in which death is dealt with on our planet" -book description

VAS would like to congratulate Susana on this achievement and we hope she will soon present her book to us in Vienna and celebrate the award together with us!