Short description
Did you know that bats compose their own songs and babble to each other? Or that mice giggle when they are tickled? This work shows how animal friends keep in touch, and how they warn and help each other in times of danger; how some animals problem-solve more effectively than humans - and how they build, create and entertain themselves and others.
Long description
Did you know that bats compose their own songs and babble to each other? Or that mice giggle when they are tickled? That lizards do push-ups to seduce a mate, or that elephants mimic the sounds of passing trucks to stave off loneliness? Bats Sing, Mice Giggle is the culmination of many years of research that reveals how wild animals, as well as pets, have secret, inner lives of which until recently - although animal lovers will have instinctively believed it - we have had little proof. The authors show how animal friends keep in touch, and how they warn and help each other in times of danger; how some animals problem-solve even more effectively than humans - and how they build, create, and entertain themselves and others. Shanor and Kanwal reveal the sleep patterns of dolphins, who go to sleep in only one half of their brains at a time; and how schools of electric fish generate and use complex electric fields to determine their location within the group. They show how animals express grief, joy, anger and fear, and experience a similar breadth of emotions as we humans. Bats Sing, Mice Giggle is a unique, eye-opening voyage of discovery through animals inner lives - one which emphasizes just how animal we humans are.
Review
'Amazing, moving and enlightening. Bats Sing, Mice Giggle presents the latest findings on the intimate lives of animals with great elegance. I recommend it wholeheartedly.' Larry King