Fido may be cute, but does he know it's wrong to chew your slippers? Can a dog, or a chimpanzee for that matter, actually distinguish right from wrong? In this hour of To the Best of Our Knowledge, a biologist says animals do have moral codes. Also a close look at two creatures you probably don't like: why cockroaches and scorpions are splendid in their own ways.

In his book "Dark Nature: A Natural History of Evil," biologist Lyall Watson redefines good and evil in genetic terms. He tells Steve Paulson that animals are programmed to be greedy, duplicitous and violent.

On the other hand, primatologist Franz De Waal thinks animals have moral codes and even a sense of justice. He tells Jim Fleming some stories from his work with monkeys that prove his point.

Ecologist Paul Shepard tells Steve Paulson that animals and the natural world teach humans how to co-exist with "the Other" and by extension, with each other. Shepard is the author of "The Others: How Animals Made Us Human." And, Natalie Angier, a science writer with the New York Times, tells Judith Strasser how she learned to love some of the other-est creatures of all, including the roaches in her apartment. Angier is the author of "The Beauty of the Beastly: New Views of the Nature of Life."

Distribution dates:

• week of 04/07/96 - hour 2
• week of 03/15/98 - hour 2