SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Ever wondered what animals think or feel? It’s easy to see that our animals love us, but what’s really going on in their heads?

Wofford College, WaterRock Institute and the University of South Carolina Upstate will host New York Times bestselling author and PBS host Carl Safina for two events on Tuesday, Feb. 16. He will discuss his latest book, “Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel.”

At 11 a.m., Safina will present “Our Threatened Oceans” in McMillan Theater in the Campus Life Building on Wofford’s campus. The event is free and open to the public.

Later that day, at 7:30 p.m., Safina will be at USC Upstate for a special program and reception. Tickets are $15 for the 7:30 p.m. event or $60 for a 6:30 p.m. VIP reception and the featured event (which also includes a copy of the $32 hardback book). A portion of proceeds will benefit the Spartanburg Humane Society.

According to Safina, animals have been watching us for much longer than we have been watching them. “They know us better than we know them,” he says. “We have the same imperatives: take care of our babies, find food, try to stay alive. Whether we’re outfitted for hiking in the hills of Africa or outfitted for diving under the sea, we are basically the same. We are kin under the skin.”

Safina is author of various books and many other writings about lives of free-living animals, how the ocean is changing, and the human relationship with the natural world. His books include, among others, the award-winning “Sone of the Blue Ocean” and “Eye of the Albatross,” as well as “The View From Lazy Point; A Natural Year in an Unnatural World.” He is founding president of the Safina Center and host of the PBS series “Saving the Ocean with Carl Safina.”

Safina’s work has been recognized with MacArthur, Pew, and Guggenheim Fellowships, and his writing has won Orion, Lannan and National Academies literary awards and the John Burroughs, James Beard and George Rabb medals. He has a Ph.D. in ecology from Rutgers University.

Tickets to the event at USC Upstate may be purchased at The Hub City Bookshop. The Hub City Bookshop also is selling copies of Safina’s latest book, “Beyond Words: What Animals Think and Feel.” For more information on these events, contact Heidi Campbell-Robinson, president of the WaterRock Institute, at 828-393-4190.