Ethology and animal behaviour Books

A wide-ranging account of how birds spend the quiet half of their livesBirds at Rest is the first book to give a full picture of how birds rest, roost, and sleep, a vital part of their lives. It features new science that can measure what is happening in...

The astonishing story of how animals use medicine and what it can teach us about healing ourselvesAges before the dawn of modern medicine, wild animals were harnessing the power of nature's pharmacy to heal themselves. Doctors by Nature reveals what...

Have you ever wondered how a sheepdog, police horse, leopard or octopus is trained? Carrots and Sticks brings behavioural science to life, explaining animal training techniques in the language of learning theory. The first sections on instinct and...

Historically, grief and spirituality have been jealously guarded as uniquely human attributes. Although nonhuman animal grief has been acknowledged in recent times, the potency of the feeling has not been recognised as equal to human grief. Both academic...

Obaysch: A Hippopotamus in Victorian London is the story of Obaysch the hippopotamus, the first 'star' animal to be exhibited in the London Zoo. In 1850, a baby hippopotamus arrived on English shores, allegedly the first in Europe since the...

Birds are the most consistently inventive builders, and their nests set the bar for functional design in nature. Describing how birds design, engineer and build their nests, Avian Architecture deconstructs all types of nests found around the world using...

A marvellously illustrated guide to colour in the natural world.Recent years have seen tremendous strides in the fields of vision, visual ecology, and our own multilayered experience of colour in life and the world. These advances have been driven by...

A charming, richly illustrated, pocket-size exploration of dinosaurs.Packed with surprising facts, this delightful and gorgeously designed book will beguile any dinosaur lover. Expertly written and beautifully illustrated throughout with colour...

Piping Hot Bees and Boisterous Buzz-Runners takes readers inside a world seldom seen even by beekeepers, shedding light on twenty of the most compelling mysteries of honey bee behaviour.Thomas Seeley has devoted a lifetime to the study of honey bees and...

A stunningly illustrated guide to these extraordinary creatures from a world-renowned paleontologist. Paleobiology has advanced from a speculative subject to a cutting-edge science. Today, researchers are applying the latest forensic technologies to the...

With an astounding 3.5 million species occupying virtually every habitat on Earth, insects are one of the most diverse groups of animals on the planet, from the humble bee to the agile praying mantis. Taking you inside the extraordinary world of insects,...

Songs, barks, roars, hoots, squeals, and growls: exploring the mysteries of how animals communicate by sound.What is the meaning of a bird's song, a baboon's bark, an owl's hoot, or a dolphin's clicks? In The Voices of Nature, Nicolas Mathevon explores...

For fans of Jane Goodall and Lawrence Anthony, this up-close, captivating look at bears traces our complex relationship to these species throughout historyOn Being a Bear draws on history, legends, scientific studies, and the author's thirty...

From the renowned wolf researcher and author of The Rise of Wolf 8 and The Reign of Wolf 21 comes a stunning account of an unconventional alpha male.A lover, not a fighter. That was wolf 302. A renegade with an eye for the ladies, 302 was anything but...

A psychologist and respected dog trainer shares the secrets to a happy pooch.Did you know that seemingly noiseless electronics may be upsetting your dog? Or that letting her sniff the breeze is one of the best gifts you can give her? Wag bridges the gap...

A Collection of True Tales of Animal Empathy and Altruism that will Inspire Us to Reflect on Our Own Human NatureWhat do stories about humpback whales protecting a biologist from a shark, a pride of lions rescuing a girl from kidnappers, gorillas working...

A spellbinding look at the philosophical and moral implications of animal dreaming.Are humans the only dreamers on Earth? What goes on in the minds of animals when they sleep? When Animals Dream brings together behavioural and neuroscientific research on...

An authoritative, accessible, and gorgeously illustrated exploration into the lives of these remarkable animalsLions are the only social cat. They hunt together, raise cubs together, and defend territories together against neighbours and strangers. Lions...

There are some 10,000 bird species in existence today, occupying every continent and virtually every habitat on Earth. The variety of bird species is truly astounding, from the tiny bee hummingbird to the large flightless ostrich, making birds one of the...

A natural history of cheating from selfish genes to lying politiciansNature is rife with cheating. Possums play possum, feigning death to cheat predators. Crows cry wolf to scare off rivals. Amphibians and reptiles are inveterate impostors. Even genes...

Science News, Favorite Books of 2020In Great Adaptations, Kenneth Catania presents an entertaining and engaging look at some of nature's most remarkable creatures. Telling the story of his biological detective work, Catania sheds light on the...

""Following the Wild Bees" is both a unique meditation on the pleasures of the natural world and a guide to the ingenious methods that compose the craft of the bee hunter... Drawing on decades of experience as a bee hunter and bee biologist, Seeley...

A rich and surprising exploration of the intelligence of bees.Most of us are aware of the hive mind - the power of bees as an amazing collective. But do we know how uniquely intelligent bees are as individuals? In The Mind of a Bee, Lars Chittka draws...