By Russell Working
Horses circled the center ring while acrobats performed on their backs. Monkeys raced around the hippodrome atop Shetland ponies. Educated Pigs jumped hurdles, leaped through hoops of fire, tumbled barrels along, and climbed ladders.
Like every major circus, when Ringling Bros. rolled into town in 1892, it unloaded hundreds of performing animals, both wild and domesticated. Along with them came a mighty cavalry of workhorses to pull the cages and bandwagons.
These animals were wrangled by trainers and menagerie men who—at least the good ones—possessed a keen understanding of animal psychology. Some trainers could be abusive and cruel, but the best knew that gentleness and understanding were better tools for working with animals.
Such thoughts came to mind recently when I ran across an interview with American scientist and animal behaviorist Temple Grandin. Grandin, who is autistic, became famous for her ability to perceive the world as animals might. Oliver Sacks wrote a memorable profile of her in The New Yorker, and a subsequent movie brought her story to millions.
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The Elephant Box 