The unexpected truth about animals stoned sloths, lovelorn hippos and other wild tales
Humans have walked on the moon and discovered the Higgs boson, but when it come to understanding animals we still have a long way to go. We once thought that eels spontaneously generated from mud and that bears gave birth to formless lumps which they then licked into shape. We still believe penguins...
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| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Books Print Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
London :
Black Swan,
2018.
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| Edition: | Black Swan edition. |
| Subjects: | |
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| Summary: | Humans have walked on the moon and discovered the Higgs boson, but when it come to understanding animals we still have a long way to go. We once thought that eels spontaneously generated from mud and that bears gave birth to formless lumps which they then licked into shape. We still believe penguins are cute, sloths are lazy and vultures have filthy habits. The truth is something else entirely. Zoologist Lucy Cooke takes us on a global adventure, consulting the world's experts to discover the truth behind bizarre tales of self-gelding beavers and news reports of drunken moose. Her research uncovers fascinating and entirely unexpected animal facts alongside extraordinary stories of the science and scientists of the past: jaw-dropping experiments and theories that often tell us as much about ourselves and our relationship with the natural world as the actual animals concerned. |
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| Item Description: | Originally published: Doubleday, 2016. |
| Physical Description: | 469 pages : illustrations ; 20 cm |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 178416190X 9781784161903 |
| Author Notes: | Her first book A Little Book of Sloth was a New York Times bestseller and spawned a major TV series for Discovery and a BBC Radio 4 documentary. The Truth About Animals , her first long-form book was shortlisted for the Royal Society prize and has been translated into nineteen languages. Her most recent book, Bitch: What Does it Mean to be Female? was cited as one of the best books of the year by both the Telegraph and the Guardian and was adapted into the BBC Radio 4 series, Political Animals. She is a columnist for BBC Wildlife Magazine and has also written for the New York Times , Wall Street Journal, the Guardian, The Times , Telegraph and New Scientist amongst other publications. She is a sought-after public speaker and has written, produced, and presented documentaries for the BBC, Channel 4, National Geographic, Animal Planet and Discovery. She has presented on the BBC's 'Springwatch' and is a regular on BBC Radio 4. |
