Animal Science

Honeybees make decisions collectively-and democratically. Every year, faced with the life-or-death problem of choosing and traveling to a new home, honeybees stake everything on a process that includes collective fact-finding, vigorous debate, and consensus building. In fact, as world-renowned animal behaviorist Thomas Seeley reveals, these incredible insects have much to teach us when it comes to collective wisdom and effective decision making.

Who takes dust baths? Who wallows in the mud? Who basks in the sun? Try to pick up on the unique habits of different animals.

The pandas of the Bamboo Kingdom have never forgotten the great flood that ended the peaceful life they’d always known. But for three young creatures born that day, the flood marks not an end, but a beginning - the beginning of their struggles to find a place in very different worlds.

This audiobook presents a variety of animals and the different places in which they live.

Badrang the Tyrant stoat, evil Lord of the Eastern Coast, has forced captive slaves to build his fortress, Marshank. Among these slaves is an indomitable young mouse called Martin who, together with his friends Felldoh and Brome, escapes from the fortress and sets off on a path to his heroic destiny as the founder of Redwall Abbey.

Beasts in My Belfry is the wonderfully funny memoir about Gerald Durrell's time at Whipsnade Zoo and his experiences as a young zookeeper. Following the Second World War, Durrell joined Whipsnade Zoo as a junior keeper - an opportunity that fulfilled a lifelong dream. Thanks to Rupert Degas's brilliant voicing, which captures all of Durrell's charm and wit, the listener can enjoy being taken behind the scenes of one of the world's very first zoos. This is a delightful portrait of the animals who lived there and those who looked after them.

Rose is the youngest of seven children, meant to replace her dead sister. Maybe because of that, she’s never really fit in. She’s always felt different, out of place, a restless wanderer in a family of homebodies. So when an enormous white bear mysteriously shows up and asks her to come away with him - in exchange for health and prosperity for her ailing family - she readily agrees. Rose travels on the bear’s broad back to a distant and empty castle, where she is nightly joined by a mysterious stranger.

Join Biologist Ashley Ward as he takes listeners into the intimate worlds of social animals. Journeying from Aysgarth Falls to the Great Barrier Reef, it becomes clear that animals are not so far removed from us as we might imagine. In a time where humans are struggling to navigate cityscapes, isolation and a loneliness epidemic, Ward shows us that studying the social behaviour of animals offers insights valuable in their own right as well as a window into the evolutionary basis of our own species.

A silver brumby is special, but he will be hunted by man and horse alike, and must be stronger than both.... Thowra, the magnificent silver stallion, is king of brumbies. But he must defend his herd from the mighty horse, The Brolga, in the most savage of struggles. That is not the only danger. Thowra needs all his speed and cunning to save his herd from capture by man. In a desperate chase through mountains, it seems there is no longer anywhere for him to run to....

Bearded dragons don’t breathe fire, but they do have spikes to scare away predators! Listeners will learn all about this real-life dragon that lives only in Australia.

They might not fly with wings but these lizards have flaps of skin that let them glide through the sky. Learn all about these colorful flying dragons of Southeast Asia.

Zombies have no control over their own minds. Some insects and other creepy crawlies have the power to turn other animals into zombies, controlling their behavior. Listeners will learn all about these creatures and the real-life zombies they are making.

“How we interact with animals has preoccupied philosophers, poets, and naturalists for ages,” writes Susan Orlean. Since the age of six, when Orlean wrote and illustrated a book called Herbert the Near-Sighted Pigeon, she’s been drawn to stories about how we live with animals, and how they abide by us. Now, in On Animals, she examines animal-human relationships through the compelling tales she has written over the course of her celebrated career.

"Die Milch macht's" hieß es früher in der Werbung und ganz ähnliche Slogans warben auch für Fleisch. Heute undenkbar. Wir wissen schließlich, wie schädlich Milch und Fleisch sind - für uns und für das Klima. Wir wissen doch, dass die Kuh mit ihrem Methanausstoß das Weltklima zerrülpst. Aber wissen wir das wirklich? Sind diese Narrative über unsere Landwirtschaft und Ernährung von Fakten gestützt und wissenschaftlich nachweisbar? Nein, das sind sie nicht, sagt Florian Schwinn. Im Gegenteil: Die viel geschmähte Kuh kann unsere Retterin sein.

The Nature of Animal Healing is a groundbreaking, inspirational contribution to animal care. Dr. Martin Goldstein, one of the most successful and best-known holistic veterinarians in the country, offers here, for the first time, invaluable insights into how to give our pets a healthy, happy, and long life.

Palila v Hawaii. New Zealand's Te Urewera Act. Sierra Club v Disney. These legal phrases hardly sound like the makings of a revolution, but beyond the headlines portending environmental catastrophes, a movement of immense import has been building - in courtrooms, legislatures, and communities across the globe. Cultures and laws are transforming to provide a powerful new approach to protecting the planet and the species with whom we share it.

A Zoo in My Luggage is the colorful, first-hand account of Gerald Durrell's six-month animal-collecting trip in British Cameroon, and his attempts to create his own zoo. Motivated by a passion for wildlife, and a desire to save endangered species from extinction, Durrell assembles a glorious panoply of exotic animals - including a female baboon called Georgina, who later runs amok in a department store; a black-eared squirrel, who tries to bury nuts in his ear; and a gentlemanly chimpanzee named Chumly, who greets him with an outstretched hand.

Just as Martine is settling into life on the wildlife game reserve, she is whisked away on a school trip. Her class is going on an ocean voyage to witness the Sardine Run, a spectacular natural phenomenon, off the coast of South Africa. What begins as an exciting adventure quickly turns perilous when a storm blows up and Martine and her classmates are thrown overboard into shark-infested waters. They are saved by a pod of dolphins, only to end up marooned on a deserted island.

When Tom's big brother decides to become an Evil Scientist, his first experiment involves dunking Frankie the goldfish into toxic green gunk. Tom knows that there is only one thing to do: Zap the fish with a battery and bring him back to life! But there's something weird about the new Frankie. He's now a Big Fat Zombie Goldfish with hypnotic powers... and he's out for revenge!

The domestic cat—your cat—has, from its evolutionary origins in Africa, been transformed in comparatively little time into one of the most successful and diverse species on the planet. Jonathan Losos, writing as both a scientist and a cat lover, explores how researchers today are unraveling the secrets of the cat, past and present, using all the tools of modern technology, from GPS tracking (you’d be amazed where those backyard cats roam) and genomics (what is your so-called Siamese cat . . . really?) to forensic archaeology.