The Last Great Ape: A Journey Through Africa and a Fight for the Heart of the Continent, by Ofir Drori and David McDannald, chronicles the path of Ofir, an adventure seeker who leaves his Israeli homeland for Africa.
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As part of an ethnographic study, Katja Guenther—an associate professor of gender and sexuality studies at UC Riverside—spent three years as a volunteer at a high-intake animal shelter in metropolitan Los Angeles. In the opening of The Lives and Deaths of Shelter Animals, we are introduced briefly to Monster, a pit bull slated to die the next day. Guenther’s book examines Monster’s death—and the deaths of many other such animals—in the context of multiple social processes linked to societal attitudes concerning race, class, gender, ability, and species.
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Surprising to some, honey bees are not native to North America. In the book, The Lives of Bees: The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild, biologist Thomas Seeley writes that the dark European honey bee was brought to the northeast in the early 1600s. Commercial beekeepers refined systems for increasing the size and accessibility of beehives, boosting a colony’s honey production, and an industry was born.
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A survey of 96 primatological articles revealed that cage location of research monkeys is rarely mentioned, although the environment of upper and lower row-housed animals markedly differs in terms of light quality, light intensity, and living dimension. Not accounting for these uncontrolled variables may increase variability of data and, consequently, the number of experimental animals needed to obtain statistically acceptable results. This study concluded that single-tier housing would be an important refinement of research methodology.
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Intriguing studies and arresting anecdotes fill the pages of the new second edition of The Magic of Touch: Healing Effects of Animal Touch & Animal Presence, by Viktor and Annie Reinhardt.
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Geoffroy's marmoset(Callithrix geoffroyi) originally occurred throughout the Atlantic forest area of southern Bahia, Espirito Santo and adjacent parts of Minas Gerais in south-eastern Brazil. Through habitat destruction and capture for the pet trade, it is now restricted to small forest fragments and has been pushed into the 'endangered' status.
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When Massachusetts citizens voted overwhelmingly in 1996 to outlaw steel jaw leghold traps, other body-gripping traps, and snares for capturing fur-bearing animals, critics of the law loudly proclaimed that disaster was imminent.
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As Rob Percival, author of The Meat Paradox: Eating, Empathy, and the Future of Meat, recounts, an Inuit shaman stated a century ago that “the greatest peril in life lies in the fact that human food consists entirely of souls.” Percival is head of policy for the Soil Association, a UK-based organic farming charity and, admittedly, a meat eater. Yet he advocates for “ethical meat consumption,” which he defines as eating less meat and eating only that which is produced under sustainable, organic, and higher-welfare conditions.
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Captive rhesus macaques are not naturally aggressive, but poor husbandry and handling practices can trigger their aggression toward conspecifics and toward the human handler. The myth of the aggressive monkey probably is based on often not taking into account basic ethological principles when managing rhesus macaques in the research laboratory setting.
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Photographer Andrew Garn’s book is a coffee table love letter to a bird that doesn’t always get much love. Garn explains their long history cohabitating with humans. He examines their physiology and development. He talks up their underrated intelligence. And he profiles pigeon people—the ones you see feeding the birds at the park or keeping coops on Brooklyn rooftops—who cherish these strutting, head-bobbing birds.
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Recognition of individual animals enables detailed studies of movement patterns, foraging, life histories and survival. It is also important for understanding the ecology and behavior of species.
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In this long-awaited sequel to Applegate’s Newbery Medal-winning 2012 book, The One and Only Ivan (recently adapted into a feature film streaming on Disney+), the Big Top Mall has closed and the animal residents have been dispersed to zoos and sanctuaries around the country. Ivan and Ruby, a baby elephant, now reside in the local zoo. Bob has found a home with the family of the former mall caretaker, but he’s having trouble settling in—even after a year he still has the sense that he has to find shelter, safety, somewhere to belong. And, although Bob bills himself as “untamed and undaunted,” deep down he believes himself to be a coward.
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The One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate, a poignant book with a strong animal welfare theme, has won the 2013 Newbery Medal—a prestigious award given annually to the most distinguished contribution to American literature for children.
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Grieving the loss of his beloved miniature pinscher Wolfgang, Steve Greig begins rescuing elderly, unwanted, “unadoptable” dogs, welcoming them into his Colorado home, and giving them a new lease on life. When he reaches nine, he decides his family is complete (to him, 10 dogs feels like too many, but eight just aren’t enough). Along the way, Greig also takes in Stuart the rabbit, Betty the chicken, and Bikini the pig—and together, they become the inseparable, incomparable, one and only Wolfgang.
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South America’s Pantanal—one of the world’s most biodiverse regions—is burning with a ferocity not seen in the historic record, with devastating suffering and death inflicted on the wild animals who live there.
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Joel Sartore is a gifted wildlife photographer. Fifteen years ago, events in his personal life meant he could no longer travel internationally to photograph wildlife in their natural habitat. So he turned his lens to what in many cases are the last animals of a species held in captivity in various zoos.
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The response of four singly caged baboons to radio music was measured using behavioral and physiological Indices. Heart rate and blood pressure, measured through a tether system, as well as behavior, were recorded during a two-week period in which radio music was available in half of the samples. The behavior of the subjects, as well as their blood pressure, did not vary in relation to radio music. Heart rate was significantly lower when the radio was on.
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Appropriate maintenance of captive chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) must include the challenge of providing them with a living environment that is functional, stimulating, and safe. At the Primate Foundation of Arizona (PFA), the safety and physical and mental well-being of the animals is our top priority.
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One of the most misguided, counterproductive, and inhumane forms of wildlife management in the United States is the annual mass killing of beavers (Castor canadensis).
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The purpose of environmental enrichment is to provide a complex social and physical environment sufficient to allow individuals to express species-typical behavior patterns [Benn, 1995]. An enriched environment has been correlated with an increase in social and sexual behaviors for nonhuman primates, in general [Bayne, 1989], and more specifically, for monkeys [Line and Morgan, 1991 Macaca mulatta].
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Author presents case histories of Primarily Primate's treatment of individual primates with problems common to humanized and abused primates. Among the methods effectively used were gradual introduction to other primates, (sometimes with the use of portable cages), surrogate mothers, territorial manipulations, and use of the knowledge of different species' social structures. Particular methods of rehabilitation must be decided on a case-by-case basis.
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What are the consequences of gray wolves being returned to Yellowstone National Park? How do salmon fertilize trees? Why aren’t we neck-deep in dead animals? Do trees migrate? How do earthworms affect wild boar populations?
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According to author T. DeLene Beeland, many devoted wildlife lovers are completely unaware that there is a separate species of wolf in North America called the red wolf (Canis rufus); even fewer know that the red wolf likely evolved solely in North America, unlike its more famous cousin, the gray wolf (Canis lupus).
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Dr. Ashley Ward is an engaging writer, with a Briton’s native wit. The best part of his book, The Social Lives of Animals, is his genuine fascination with the animal behavior he observes, but his humor comes a close second. He demonstrates the intensity of his interest in easy-flowing and heartfelt prose, describing the genesis of his chosen career with charming honesty in his introduction and reinforcing the empathy he feels in each detailed chapter. He offers amusing anecdotes of his personal encounters with a wide variety of animals doing their social thing, to accompany his more science-based explanations for some of the remarkably complex behaviors animals perform.
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Thomas Armbruster / SandyHook SeaLife Foundation / 310 pages
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