This is But Why, a podcast for curious kids from Vermont Public Radio.

I'm Jane Lindhol.

In this podcast, we take questions from curious kids just like you all over the world.

And we find answers.

This week, we're answering questions about how other animals think and feel and behave,

and how those thoughts and feelings and behaviors are the same or different from humans.

To help guide us through your questions is Alyssa Erie.

She's a graduate student at a place called Yale University, but she doesn't spend all her

time in a classroom or even in a research lab.

For my job, I guess, I study animal behavior and I specifically, I just study monkey behavior.

So I go out into an island where all the monkeys live and I watch how the monkeys behave

and how they interact with each other and try to make connections about how those monkeys

interact with each other, with how humans interact with each other to think more about how

monkeys think about the world and what parts of how humans think about the world are shared

with how monkeys look about the world.

Doesn't that sound cool?

And we thought her background would make her a perfect guest for today's show.

Not only that, but Alyssa says she's really passionate about making sure kids in particular

know they can do the kind of job she does, because she had no idea this was even a possibility

when she was your age.

When I was a little kid, I loved animals so, so much and blessed my mom, she just let

me have everything in the house, just let me bring any animal.

...