Talking with Marylène Patou-Mathis is like talking with someone who has contemplated 400,000 years of humanity. She joyfully debunks all the clichés about prehistoric men.–France Inter: Le Grand Portrait

An exploration of the relationship between humans and animals on the occasion of the International Agricultural Show. Essential to our evolution, it is now, according to the author, on the verge of a historic turning point… —France Info

The author, a pre-historian and director of research at the CNRS, traces this extraordinary cultural journey, which she sees as having been dangerously interrupted by the industrial era and the loss of our connection to nature.–Le Monde Science et Médecine

By scientifically revisiting our own history, Marylène Patou-Mathis reminds us of historical facts that our era tends to forget and the undeniable contributions of animals to humanity.–La Cliothèque

Marylène Patou-Mathis explores how, for 300,000 years, animals have played a crucial role in our development and our myths… and how this long companionship came to an end.–Le Soir

This is the story of a millennia-long companionship that came to an end yesterday.

The animal has vanished from our lives. Wild animals are confined to zoos or endangered because of human activity. Farm animals are, for the most part, hidden from our sight. The only ones we remain close to are pets, whose wild side we erase.

What does this distancing reveal about us?

To find out, Marylène Patou-Mathis analyzed the long history of human–animal relationships, from the emergence of the Homo sapiens to the present day. For 300,000 years, animals have provided for us, forged our myths and beliefs, and contributed to our development. We have written a shared history with them, up until the 19^th century.

This essay recounts this shift, which is incredibly recent on a human scale. It offers a crucial lens for understanding what is at stake between us and them, and what the future of humankind would look like without animals.