The Social Lives of Animals: How Co-operation Conquered the Natural World

(Paperback, Main)

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'Any writer who can evoke the existential sadness of a lonely cockroach, or make krill thrilling, or describe a snorkelling colleague being engulfed in a "gargantuan cetacean bum detonation" is a real gift to science communication ... thought-provoking' - Guardian

Everything you ever wanted to know about how animals live together, and what that means for us

Some animal societies hold a mirror up to the human world: elephants hold funerals for departed family members. Pinyon jays run collective creches. Rats will go out of their way to help a cold, wet stranger. Other lifestyles can seem intensely alien. Take locusts, surging over the land in their millions, unable to slow down for a moment because the hungry ranks behind will literally bite their legs off if they don't stay one step ahead (actually, you might know a few people like that).

But no matter how offputting an animal might be, behavioural scientist Ashley Ward can usually find something worth celebrating. Travelling the world from the Serengeti to the frozen Antarctic ocean, with stops in the muddy fields and streams of his native northern Yorkshire, he brings his curious eye and infectious humour right down to their level. The result is a world-expanding, myth-busting tour of some of nature's greatest marvels, in delightfully broad-minded company.

Reviews

'Very striking ... Ward has a good eye for details ... he writes vividly' - Sunday Times

'Extraordinary stories in this fascinating book ... any writer who can evoke the existential sadness of a lonely cockroach, or make krill thrilling, or describe a snorkelling colleague being engulfed in a "gargantuan cetacean bum detonation" is a real gift to science communication ... thought-provoking' - Guardian

'Reading [The Social Lives of Animals] is like entering a maze ... with surprises awaiting the reader at every turn. What holds it all together is the author's natural gift for storytelling and penchant for punchy, provocative one-liners' - Christoph Irmscher

'A great antidote to the dog-eat-dog view of nature that we grew up with. Ashley Ward takes the reader on a personal journey of discovery to make clear that animals often depend on cooperation for survival' - Frans de Waal, author

'From swarming krill and flocking birds to cattle herds and tribal chimpanzees, Ashley Ward reveals animals to be much more social than often thought. Part deep dive into the latest science and part personal storytelling, Ward's book shatters the old stereotype. This is not nature red in tooth and claw, but nature awash in cooperation and collaboration' - Steve Brusatte, professor and palaeontologist at the University of Edinburgh and New York Times/Sunday Times bestselling author of

Author Bio

Born in Yorkshire, Ashley Ward is a professor in Animal Behaviour at the University of Sydney, the culmination of a career spent studying the behaviour of animals from tiny Antarctic krill to mammals, including humans. He has published over 100 scientific journal articles and a highly cited academic book Sociality: The Behaviour of GroupLiving Animals.