100 Best Animal Behavior Books of All Time

Although mammals and birds are widely regarded as the smartest creatures on earth, it has lately become clear that a very distant branch of the tree of life has also sprouted higher intelligence: the cephalopods, consisting of the squid, the cuttlefish, and above all the octopus. In captivity, octopuses have been known to identify individual human keepers, raid neighboring tanks for food, turn off

In Other Minds, Peter Godfrey-Smith, a distinguished philosopher of science and a skilled scuba diver, tells a bold new story of how subjective experience crept into being—how nature became aware of itself. As Godfrey-Smith stresses, it is a story that largely occurs in the ocean, where animals first appeared. Tracking the mind’s fitful development, Godfrey-Smith shows how unruly clumps of seaborne cells began living together and became capable of sensing, acting, and signaling. As these primitive organisms became more entangled with others, they grew more complicated. The first nervous systems evolved, probably in ancient relatives of jellyfish; later on, the cephalopods, which began as inconspicuous mollusks, abandoned their shells and rose above the ocean floor, searching for prey and acquiring the greater intelligence needed to do so. Taking an independent route, mammals and birds later began their own evolutionary journeys.

But what kind of intelligence do cephalopods possess? Drawing on the latest scientific research and his own scuba-diving adventures, Godfrey-Smith probes the many mysteries that surround the lineage. How did the octopus, a solitary creature with little social life, become so smart? What is it like to have eight tentacles that are so packed with neurons that they virtually “think for themselves”? What happens when some octopuses abandon their hermit-like ways and congregate, as they do in a unique location off the coast of Australia?

By tracing the question of inner life back to its roots and comparing human beings with our most remarkable animal relatives, Godfrey-Smith casts crucial new light on the octopus mind—and on our own.

One of the most important books ever written about our connection to the natural world, Gorillas in the Mist is the riveting account of Dian Fossey's thirteen years in a remote African rain forest with the greatest of the great apes. Fossey's extraordinary efforts to ensure the future of the rain forest and its remaining mountain gorillas are captured in her own words and in candid photographs of

In this paperback edition is a foreword by activist and author John Robbins and a reader's group study guide. This ground-breaking work, voted one of the top ten books of 2010 by "VegNews" Magazine, offers an absorbing look at why and how humans can so wholeheartedly devote ourselves to certain animals and then allow others to suffer needlessly, especially those slaughtered for our consumption.

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In "Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows" Joy investigates factory farming, exposing how cruelly the animals are treated, the hazards that meatpacking workers face, and the environmental impact of raising 10 billion animals for food each year. Controversial and challenging, this book will change the way you think about food forever.

THROUGH A WINDOW is the dramatic saga of thirty years in the life of a community, of birth and death, sex and love, power and war. It reads like a novel, but it is one of the most important scientific works ever published. The community is Gombe, on the shores of Lake Tangganyika, where the principal residents are chimpanzees and one extraordinary woman who is their student, protector, and histori

Scientific American covers the most important and exciting research, ideas and knowledge in science, health, technology, the environment and society. It is committed to sharing trustworthy knowledge and enhancing our understanding of the world .

This book brings you up close and personal with eight different bug species in astounding motion. Using Photicular technology—an innovative lenticular-based technology that uses precision sliding lenses and four-color video imagery—each image is like a 3D movie on the page, delivering a rich, fluid, immersive visual experience, allowing Bugs to zoom in on the tiny world of insects. Watch a praying

The New York Times bestselling authors of The Genius of Dogs take us into their “Puppy Kindergarten” at Duke University, a center to study how puppies develop, to show us what goes in to raising a great dog.Don’t miss Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods in Netflix’s film Inside the Mind of a Dog!“A firehose of knowledge suffused with levity and charm.”—Alexandra Horowitz, author of Inside of a DogWhat do

The “engaging” (New Yorker), New York Times best-selling story of how coyotes took over North America—and are now taking over South America as well Finalist for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award "A masterly synthesis of scientific research and personal observation."—Wall Street Journal Legends don’t come close to capturing the incredible survival story of the coyote. In the face o

Color and learn awesome facts about the 25 most amazing wild animals—plus bonus trading cards!Meet 25 awesome wild animals from all over the world! This learn-through-coloring book provides kids with hours of coloring fun and teaches them exciting facts about these astonishing creatures at the same time. Did you know that crocodiles sometimes swallow stones to help digest their meals? That cheetah

What if the key to a calmer, more responsive horse wasn't a new training method, but a better understanding of how the horse's brain actually works?In A Horse's Life: The Neuroscience of Equine Welfare, neuroscientist Dr. Stephen Peters, internationally recognized horseman Mark Rashid, and clinician Crissi McDonald bring together brain science and decades of hands-on horse experience to explain wh