The exultant ark : a pictorial tour of animal pleasure / Jonathan Balcombe.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Balcombe, Jonathan, 1959-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Emotions in animals.

Emotions in animals--Pictorial works.

Animal behavior.

Animal behavior--Pictorial works.

Pleasure.

Pleasure--Pictorial works.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (225 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Berkeley [Calif.] : University of California Press, c2011.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Nature documentaries often depict animal life as a grim struggle for survival, but this visually stunning book opens our eyes to a different, more scientifically up-to-date way of looking at the animal kingdom. In more than one hundred thirty striking images, The Exultant Ark celebrates the full range of animal experience with dramatic portraits of animal pleasure ranging from the charismatic and familiar to the obscure and bizarre. These photographs, windows onto the inner lives of pleasure seekers, show two polar bears engaged in a bout of wrestling, hoary marmots taking time for a friendly chase, Japanese macaques enjoying a soak in a hot spring, a young bull elk sticking out his tongue to catch snowflakes, and many other rewarding moments. Biologist and best-selling author Jonathan Balcombe is our guide, interpreting the images within the scientific context of what is known about animal behavior. In the end, old attitudes fall away as we gain a heightened sense of animal individuality and of the pleasures that make life worth living for all sentient beings.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

INTRODUCTION

Play

Food

Touch

Courtship and Sex

Love

Comfort

Companionship

Other Pleasures

Conclusion: implications of animal pleasure

Notes

References

Index

Notes:

Description based upon print version of record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613277770

9781283277778

1283277778

9780520948648

0520948645

OCLC:

705538922