WHEN VIEWING ON A MOBILE DEVICE -- DOUBLE TAP TO ZOOM 14  chapter 2 They interact immediately and consistently. Their responses may be nega- tive, positive, or neutral. Children learn what kind of behavior will elicit a positive response, and what behaviors result in inattention or aloofness from the animal. Some behaviors or advances will result in negative feedback (the animal snapping or growling, the animal walking away), which also provides rich material for a child’s learning. These repeated interactions allow chil- dren to base their behavior on the result of previous interactions: Last time when I rubbed her chin, she purred; this time she might purr again. Clearly, repeated interactions with animals are more meaningful than onetime trips to a petting zoo (although those experiences can be special, too! More on that in chapter 5). “The net effect of such repeated interactions,” Myers says, “is that the animal can affirm the child’s own core sense of self, and help him or her implicitly realize the richness of the human self, which is able in its own ways to connect across species differences with the multi-​species world.” Cognitive Challenge Animals are also appealing for the sheer variety of ways children can think about them. Consider how many young children enjoy sorting, COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL