Chimpanzee, Rhinoceros, and a Vintage Renault
340630
I have not read THE LIFE OF PI, nor seen the movie, so cannot say if Yann Martel's latest is as good as his Man Booker prizewinning novel about a tiger and a boy in a small boat. But I was certainly not disappointed in this one, which offers a charming blend of faith and fable, coupled once more with an unusual bestiary, from odd-looking automobiles to even less common animals. Whatever I felt about the book narratively -- it tends to amble rather than advance -- I found I was glad to spend as much time with Martel as he cared to give.

The book is called as a novel, but really it is three novellas of a hundred pages or so, set in different time periods, and each of a rather different genre. They are connected by their setting -- the so-called High Mountains of Portugal, which turns out to be a boulder-strewn savannah with not a mountain in sight. They are connected by the appearance in each of members of the same family, though you have to read deep into each story to discover how. They are connected too by a common concern with religion -- far from doctrinaire Christianity, but illuminated by the sense that faith matters, and that doubt matters even more. Martel also connects them through their titles, which indicate the overall arc of the book: Homeless, Homeward, and Home. And the sense of final homecoming is both beautiful and real.

"Homeless," set in 1904, is a quest. A young archivist named Toms has discovered some letters from a 17th-century Portuguese priest on an African mission, filled with his reactions to the slave trade, his doubts about his faith, and reports about an unusual native crucifix that Toms believes was sent to a church in the High Mountains. So he reluctantly accepts the loan of his uncle's brand new Renault, even though he is baffled by the operation of the "steerage wheel," amazed at the amount of "moto-naphtha" needed to run it, and as for the technical terms, "did not the Iberian Peninsula get enough torque with Grand Inquisitor Torquemada?" His struggles with the car are comic though a bit prolonged. But when Toms reaches his destination, you will see that his role as an inept driver was an important one to establish.

Oddly enough, although very little happens in "Homeward," set on New Year's Eve of 193839, it gripped me totally from beginning to end. You would hardly think that a middle-aged pathologist receiving a midnight visit from his wife, who talks for over thirty pages about the Gospels as parallels to Agatha Christie stories would exactly seize you by the lapels, but I was fascinated by the woman's arguments, and her theology was not trivial either. That is only the start; even stranger things will happen before the novella ends. Best say no more.

In the final story, set in 1988, a widowed Canadian senator, tired of politics, adopts a chimpanzee and travels with him to his ancestral village. It is a beautiful tale, just teetering on the edge of sappiness but never quite going there. In all senses, geographical, spiritual, and human, it amply earns its title, "Home." And that is more than enough for me.
2159614
I found this whilst searching for another early computer-generated graphic novel.  This wasn't it, but it's still an amusing trip down memory lane.  Watch out for the car that vaguely reminds you of the car from Captain America and the character who looks like Samuel Jackson's Nick Fury.

This dates back from the first Macintosh and MacDraw.  And they were figuring things out, so the graphic style changes throughout.

I wouldn't necessarily put it next to the famous graphic novels of yore, but it's still a fun read.
4697768
This was a vehicle project i worked on at Lotus, so has fond memories for me. the detail of the model is superb
1310140
Being a fan of the T-Man, I naturally got around to MONSTER ZOO. This offering is introduced--glowingly--by Todd McFarlane (a name familiar, doubtlessly, to comics lovers).

As usual, we get nifty art, humor, scary things one needs to fight (ya know, good versus evil), humor, characters you can root for, a bit of romance, and humor. :D

In MONSTER ZOO--well, you can guess the setting, right?--we have two best pals, kids you know are tagged as losers in high school--the fat and farty one with the skinny and shy one--who visit the zoo. Also present this day, however, is a new exhibit of this huge monster idol from Africa called "Ungabe," the name the natives called it as they fled in terror once it was unearthed. The zoologists hope it will bring in moolah to get the zoo in the red. (They totally ignore that "flee in terror" part, but we know something's up.)

Also at the zoo as the story is set up we see a girl our hero has a crush on, and her goon-idiot boyfriend (who bullies the hero early on).

Things get much worse than wedgies when animals start transforming into delightfully weird monster versions of themselves (freaky walrus thing, zebras with giant maws on their haunches, razor-toothed monkeys attacking in tandem) as the Ungabe gets its killer act in gear.

It's gonna be an "animal apocalypse" if the foreign and very short "witchy woman" and the kids don't survive and prevail.

I have to say, as a gal with a soft spot for romantic subplots, that I always appreciate when TenNapel does that little, gentle bit of romance magic (like in Creature Tech, Black Cherry, et al). He does it with a very sweet hand given the surroundign wackiness, so it's like a bit of tender calm in the storm. I like that.

There were a couple spots where I had to reach for the tissues cause I was laughing to tears. But then, Doug does that to me. :)

Bring it on D.T. I'm ready for the next wild ride.

Thumbs up!

Mir
1106281
Probably one of the best books I have read in long time. If you are interested in exotic animal ownership and/or how exotic animals and zoos have influenced or affected history I recommend this book. A truly interesting anthropological read.
3608185
Vladimir Dinets is a professional animal watcher.  If you're like me, you don't get to see many animals, except your pets, zoo animals, and the occasional squirrel or raccoon in your neighborhood.  Lucky for us, Dinets has spent his lifetime observing wildlife.  In Wildlife Spectacles: Mass Migrations, Mating Rituals, and Other Fascinating Animal Behaviors, Dinets describes a wide variety of animals and their habits.  As a bonus, he tells us where to go to see for ourselves!

A couple of themes show up throughout Wildlife Spectacles.  First, the danger man poses to wildlife and the subsequent impact on animal habitats and populations.  It's a reality that we use lots of land for living and farming.  Without moaning about overpopulation or misanthropy, Dinets simply describes the ways that migration patterns, mating habits and species survival has been impacted.

A more interesting and compelling theme is the interaction between species.  For instance, in North America the passenger pigeon is extinct.  That alone is tragic, but: "Since the passenger pigeon's extinction, tree species they depended on the bird for spreading their seeds, particularly the white oak, have gone into decline."  Who would have predicted this relationship?  Not me.  Similarly, salmon has a huge impact on the forest through which their rivers run.  "Salmon runs transport a significant amount of nutrients from the ocean to the coastal forests." The magnificent forests of the northwest are made possible by salmon sacrificing their lives.

You might not like bats much, but many of our crops depend on them to eat invasive insects.  A decline in bat populations can impact our food supply.  "Fungus causes a disease called white-noise syndrome, which dan wipe out entire colonies of bats in just one winter. Within a few years it killed eighty percent of bats in the Northeast (causing billions of dollars of damage to agriculture)..."

Dinets emphasizes the interconnectedness of life, as well as the mystery of it.  We think scientists know everything, but much of the natural world is still a mystery.  Dinets talks about the mystery of insect migration.  Sometimes the patterns are very clear, but in some cases, we don't know where they go when they migrate.  So much is unknown.

Wildlife Spectacles is enjoyable on many levels.  Just flip through it and enjoy the gorgeous photography.  Read more closely and be astounded by the miracles of wildlife.  Take it with you on your next road trip to observe the wonderful world of animals first-hand.

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the complimentary electronic review copy!
4367058
I too found Coontz entertaining and thoroughly enjoyed the cross cultural and historical marriage stories.  She may want to explore a broader network of references for her natural and biological science conclusions.  For example, on page 36...."But since the 1970's  other researchers have poked holes in the protective theory of marriage.  Some have denied male dominance...among baboons...."  Baboons are old world monkeys and are not considered as genetically close to humans as bonobos and chimps.  They do share one characteristic with Chimps however and that is male dominance over females which puts a hole in Coontz's theory that male dominance did not come from primates but was manufactured through social forces.  Chimps as well as baboon females bond with their children and other females in order to escape from the males. Males control the estrus of the females by killing the infants.  Coontz would have found more interesting the Bonobo to prove her point; this is, a primate that is actually quite matriarchal with males subordinate to the quite promiscuous attitude of a female controlled, group society e.g. females eat before males.  The reader is referred to Bonobo:  The Forgotten Ape by Frans De Waal and Frans Lanting.  Their work is based on field work and not library research.

Another example on page 38 - "Hunting with projectile weapons became the domain of men partly because it was hard for women to chase swift game while they were nursing."  And so, my thought after reading Chapter 3 is that biology is not destiny after all; that men and women are equal except that women bear children.  Take away the children and women could be the hunters.  Except for the inconvenient fact that men as a group are taller, stronger, faster, have on average 42% more upper body strength for throwing those projectiles, etc.  And so I kept waiting for Coontz to explain why men are taller, stronger, faster, etc if not to engage in hunting, protection, and in later horticultural societies, warfare. It's common sense, that a society without protection will be selected for extinction. And it makes sense that men would be stuck with this chore as the females were busy having babies every 4 years and since women are vulnerable would choose males most likely to protect the family group.  The reader for an expert analysis of this subject is referred to any of Gerhard Lenski's books such as "Human Societies."

Despite an excellent journey through the history of marriage, I'm disappointed that such technical errors exist and hope the next edition is not as rushed in its attention to detail.
12519
The humble platypus, which few have seen in the wild, created more biological debate in the 19th century than any other animal.  In the 20th century, observations led to startling new findings about how the platypus reflects advanced evolutionary development.
When I went to Australia, the platypus was on my most-hoped-to-see list.  Fortunately, there was a nice habitat in the Sydney zoo that helped me to learn more about them.  The platypus uses burrows as its land home, but spends a lot of time in the water.  The platypus can consume half its weight a day in live food.  To locate that much food, it relies on an advanced electrolocation method involving its duck-like bill.  This method is more effective than the sonar-like methods used by other animals.
Well, what is a platypus?  First, you notice the duck-like bill.  Perhaps a bird?  Second, you notice the fur.  Perhaps a mammal?  Third, you see the webbed feet.  Back to bird?  Fourth, close examination shows that the platypus has mammary glands.  Mammal?  Fifth, the platypus lays eggs that are like those of reptiles.  Reptile?
These days, the view is that the platypus is a mammal that lays eggs, along with the echidna.  But both animals confounded 19th century naturalists before Darwin when Divine Creation was the dominant theory of evolution.  Elaborate classification schemes had been developed that traced everything into one neat family or another.  The platypus did not fit.
The first specimens were sent back pickled in alcohol to England and later to France, where dissection sparked a continuing debate about whether or not the platypus had mammary glands and whether or not their young could suckle.  How the young were born was a complete mystery.
The mystery could have been solved much sooner, but Europeans chose to ignore what Aborigines and Australians told them about the platypus.  So European naturalists came and slaughtered thousands, looking for pregnant and ovulating female platypuses.
Attempts to transport platypuses live failed for a long time, as did attempts to maintain them in captivity.
Eventually, observations by European naturalists established the truth.  By the time that Darwin wrote The Origin of Species, the platypus had become one of his greatest examples of natural selection.  The platypus had kept some reptile-like features while having evolved into a mammal.  Little did he know that the bill's sensors would become the strongest evidence for his argument.
The book is well illustrated with many drawings and a few photographs that provide helpful perspective on this little-known creature.
Ms. Moyal does a fine job of giving us a Down Under view of all this.  She combines solid science, explained simply, with a subtle wit about the false speculations and plodding methods of pompous, well-respected scientists.  You will enjoy what she has to say.
After you finish this fine book, I suggest that you think about where the evidence around you contradicts what you have been told.  For example, it is argued that education is very essential for children.  What are the things that children learn to do outside of school (like walk, talk, ride a bicycle, develop a moral sense, and sometimes to read) compared to what they learn in school (like sometimes to read, how to use maps, calculate geometry, and do art projects)?  What are the implications for how children and adults could learn more?
Look for better examples and answers!
3697296
In
the current dino-mania, fossil mammals are overshadowed. Too bad;
there are many curious and wonderful creatures in the mammalian
lineage. Yet, few well-illustrated popular books on the subject
exist. Bjorn Kurten's _Before the Indians_ had blurry charcoal
drawings. The late George Gaylord Simpson was an authority on
prehistoric South American mammals, but little more than a doodler
with a brush. And Colin Tudge's wonderful _The Time Before History_
had no pictures at all.
So this book is most welcome. Mauricio
Anton is a gifted artist. Cats and catlike creatures such as
nimravids, homotheriums, saber-tooths, dirk-tooths, all seem to live
again in these color and b/w pictures. The only beastie which is
unconvincingly rendered is the poorly-known _Thylacoleo_, the
marsupial lion.
Through the reproductions and discussions of these
and other animals, one gets a lesson in how different animals adopt
similar body plans, based on their ecological niche. Large top
predators are robust, while middle niche hunters are more
gracile. Thus, we are told, _Thylacoleo_, the largest nimravids, and
the largest saber-tooths resemble lions, while smaller predators
resemble cheetahs and leopards. All in all, a must for big cat- and
paleontology- lovers, the latter who may be getting tired of
dinosaurs!
4056544
This book provides a marvelous review of the science on animal cognition. Though she uses the behavioralists as a whipping boy at times, she mostly avoids the unproductive discussion about whether animals can "think."  Of course they can.  They also think differently than humans do, and differently from one another. Even within a species, some are smarter than others.

She saves the smartest species for last, dogs and wolves, dolphins, elephants, and the great apes. Morell has read the key scientific papers, but mostly she takes us on visits to the labs and field sites. She walks us through experiments showing what animal minds can do. Some of these experiments imply the existence of animal emotions and mental states, but mostly they concern cognition.  Ants teach. Angler fish have to learn how to be a good shot.  Parrotlets have names. Rats laugh.

Some scientists still deny that this cognition exists, but it's completely unclear why.  The more interesting questions are about variation - what can they do, what can't they do, how are they like us, how are they unlike us, how do they differ from one another.  A Japanese chimp can do mental tasks on a touch screen that humans cannot, apparently because he has something like an eiditic (photographic) memory for the arrangement objects.

Some people find this threatening. I can't imagine why.  I think it's cool. The book is a great introduction to the topic, and I bet you'll end up thinking it's cool, too.
3091889
De Waal weaves his story of chimpanzees, bonobos and humans into a believable tale.  The stories have subsequently inspired many of the conversations I have had with colleagues and friends this last week.  Looking around at the people around me, I wonder how far off planet of the apes (don't call them monkeys) really was.  This was a joyful bit of "dessert" reading that was thoughtful, fun and bit chilling.
3997104
Elephants are the first exotic animal of which kids have some knowledge.  Every Noah's Ark set has a pair, and children are able to draw elephants almost as soon as they can draw any recognizable animal.  We love Babar and we love Horton.  But most westerners see real elephants only in zoos and circuses, where they are among the favorite attractions.  In zoos, they don't do a whole lot besides stand around, but they are still a big draw.  Why this should be so is not answered by the book _Elephant Reflections_ (University of California Press) with photographs by Karl Ammann and text by Dale Peterson.  In fact, although there is much understanding promoted by Peterson's text, even he can't account for what he calls "the almost inexplicable sense of elephant otherness."  This lovely, large-size book of 150 photographs of different aspects of the African elephant has enough dramatic, anatomical, or endearing pictures to increase anyone's appreciation for the mysteries of this largest of land animals.

The book is not a biology text, but more a coffee-table art book, and is entirely successful in this realm.  The photos are not categorized by species or age, but by themes, like "Textures" or "Behaviors" or "Colors".  Colors?  Elephants are gray.  But here they are not limited to gray.  Ammann has taken advantage of different shades of sunlight to show an orange-shaded elephant, for instance, but usually the colors come from the exteriors of the elephants themselves, dusted or dribbled with gold or tan.  The gorgeous section of textures show that this is a category to which a whole larger book might be devoted.  Certainly here are the smooth hard tusks, or the strange toenails that look like half a goose egg.  But the elephant has the most varied skin texture of any animal.  There are broad sections of skin that look just like the bark of an old tree, or foreheads which are like lichen-covered stones, or ears with fancy dendriform patterns of veins beneath (patterns some researchers use to identify one individual from another).  Some of the pictures of skin and wrinkle patterns are here in close-up without context of other body parts, and are stunning in their abstract complexity.  Peterson explains that with all our experience of elephants since we were savanna hunters, using them for food, display, warfare, and labor, we ought to know them well, but by the middle of the twentieth century, we did not have scientific sureness of basic issues of how they sleep or migrate or socialize.

He reviews the results of the recent decades of intensive research.  We have a good idea about gestures the elephants use for greeting, for instance, or their use of infrasound, signals too low for us to hear but which they send through the ground and sense through their footpads.  We know much more about their matriarchal society and how females support each other in herds while males tend to be loners.  Unfortunately, we also know how much damage ivory hunters have caused (though in a commentary from the photographer, Ammann explains that elephants are being killed now for meat, not for teeth).  Here is a gorgeous collection of photographs to incite your wonder at this strangest and most inexplicably loveable of exotic beasts, and to make you care about what comes of them.
4943604
A wonderful journey into the life and culture of chimpanzees. Dr. Halloran does a brilliant job not only bringing these real chimps to life on the page, but draws you in as another individual in the troop. 5/5
737568
Excellent book to learn all about Apes, Koalas, Chimpanzees, and more! My daughter loves this book as she loves all wild life. An educational book that can be used to teach children about nature.
4439196
Walking with Prehistoric Beasts, like Walking with Dinosaurs, is a well illustrated written companion to a BBC documentary on fossil animals and their environment.  In this case the age of early mammals is the subject of the discourse.  As the author himself points out, before the discovery of dinosaurs, the remains of the early megafauna of the ice ages were the great attractions in 19th Century  museums and exhibits.  These were the dream-team animals that inspired little boys to go into careers hunting fossils throughout the world.  The beautiful CGI of the book does more to bring these animals alive than any other collection of images that I've seen, and it makes one appreciate the advances that have been made in this type of characterization.
 While I enjoyed the wildlife presented, as with Walking with Dinosaurs, it is not always made clear to the reader that only some things can be known absolutely about these now extinct animals.  Much  must be extrapolated from what is known of modern descendants and shear guesswork.  Not everyone who reads the book will realize that, and I think that more of an effort should have been made to explain why the authorities on the subject believe what they do about the period.  For one thing it would have provided a better learning experience and a greater appreciation for the inspired detective work done by paleontologists world wide.

Worth 4 stars for the illustrations alone!
3198182
This great coffee table book catalogs the wide variety of the animal kingdom, from insects to primates.  The numerous photos (> 500) illustrate the text well  With such as broad focus, Morris only presents an overview, and the writing is sometimes antidotal and conversation, which helps to impart his  enthusiasm for some of most remarkable behaviors imaginable. Included are moles that paralyze worms, and then can build an "underground larder" of up to a thousand living worms.  There is a photo of a leafy sea dragon in the chapter on Camouflage.  In the chapter on warning signals is a remarkable photo of an upside down Oriental fire-bellied toad that is giving its own warning.  The chapter on "Mutual Aid" was a favorite of mine, with cleaner shrimps and oxpeckers. Another favorite chapter was on Facial Expressions, with insights to both canine and feline facial expressions.  The illustration of bird courtship displays included the Western Grebe, and the chapter on Arena displays included the remarkable grouse and bowerbirds.  This bird presents Morris's common sense insights, but does not go into evolution of these behaviors or abstract theories.
65750
African Wild Dogs are a highly endangered species of social carnivores.  They are perhaps the most social large carnivores, being very cooperative.  This allows them to be the most successful large mammalian carnivores (perhaps the most successful period).  Unfortunately, this success and their grim method of killing has led them to be stereotyped and despised.  This, along with habitat loss, competition with hyenas, and predation from lions, has led them to be critically endangered.

This book is a tour of the various wildlife parks and reserves (private and public) that shelter AWD in the country of South Africa.  Conservationists there have taken up the idea of preserving multiple small populations rather than holding out for large populations.  The idea is that you can still preserve genetic diversity by manually swapping dogs between the parks to simulate natural dispersal.  Given that wild dogs can have enormous home ranges (20,000km per pack), this is perhaps the best solution.

The authors write about their adventures in each park as they try to find the dogs.  What's really nice is that at the end of each park section, they include contact information for all the tourist operations that bring people to see the dogs.  This is a vital recognition of the important economic help that eco-tourism can provide to conservation efforts.

Finally, of course, there are many pictures of AWD in this book.  Simply put, they are some of the most beautiful images of AWD I've ever seen.  From photos of the hunt to pups playing, the authors capture a wide range of different actions, expressions, ages, and individuals.  The front cover is a good example of the quality of these images.

Overall, I can point out no flaws to this book other than I wish it had another hundred pages of beautiful pictures!  If you like African Wild Dogs, if you like nature in general, or if you just want to support a critically endangered species, this book is a great purchase.