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Friday Animal BlogCoyote vs. Cat, Cat vs. BirdJuly 30, 2010
In the last few weeks in Gloucester County, Virginia-- where I live, across the river from the famous Yorktown Battlefield—-friends and acquaintances report that they’re losing pets and cared-for feral cats to coyote attacks. I trust these sources, and the reports are coming from various parts of our semi-rural county, so (more…)
Pat Shipman’s Animal ConnectionJuly 23, 2010
I love that rush of wow! that comes with discovering an exciting journal article about animals, and animal-human bonding.
This week, in reading Pennsylvania State University anthropologist Pat Shipman’s latest work, I got just such a rush. In the August issue of Current Anthropology, Shipman argues that, in addition to the making (more…) Celebrating Jane GoodallJuly 16, 2010
This week, the Daily Press, one of the larger papers in my area of southeastern Virginia, published an op-ed I wrote. Here it is, doubling as this week's blog:
Wednesday, July 14, marked the 50th anniversary of Jane Goodall's stepping onto the shores of Lake Tanganyika at Gombe in Tanzania, East Africa, to observe wild (more…) On Owl Monkeys: Wide-eyed and Gently Bonded at DuMond ConservancyJuly 9, 2010
For the primate enthusiast, it’s easy enough to fixate on the alpha species: the baboons, chimpanzees, gorillas and bonobos favored by many primatologists and film crews. Relentlessly self-oriented, Homo sapiens enjoys a close look in the mirror—evolutionary or otherwise—so it’s no accident that these popular monkeys and apes are among (more…)
Walking our national parksJuly 2, 2010
One can never walk the same national-park trail twice.
I’ve adapted this line from Heraclitus, who, around 500 B.C., uttered the to-be-famous “You cannot step into the same river twice.” That sentiment is even more elegant when applied to walking the diverse and wondrous trails of the American national park system. Despite my (more…) FloridaJune 25, 2010
The Friday Animal Blog is in The Everglades/Miami enjoying wildlife of all sorts! Please check back next week.
Celebrating Mike the Headless ChickenJune 18, 2010
Every spring in Fruita, Colorado, festival-goers celebrate the life of Mike the Headless Chicken. This startling fact I discovered only last week while browsing online to learn about life in small-town Fruita, a destination of my husband’s during his recent hiking trip.
Since then, I haven’t been (more…) Should Pets (Even Pit Bulls) Go to College?June 11, 2010
Should Pets (Even Pit Bulls) Go to College?
In the fall, a newly renovated dorm at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri, will offer what we might think of as mixed-species rooms. Students may bring their cat or dog to campus with the College’s blessing. As reported in The New York Times earlier this (more…) Animals and Ancient CreativityJune 4, 2010
Earlier this week, it was announced that as possibly as long ago as 40,000 years, a pair of birds was painted in red ochre on a rock overhang in northern Australia. The images speak directly to a human fascination with animals expressed far back in time.
View a photograph of the (more…) The Elephant Who TweetsMay 28, 2010
The Elephant Who Tweets
In March 2010, an Asian elephant calf was born at Taronga Zoo near Sydney, Australia, under highly unusual conditions. A pregnant female had, about a week prior, gone into on-again, off-again labor. Medical scanning of this elephant indicated that her baby was lodged in a fetal position so poor that birth (more…) |
Selected WorksNonfiction
Being With Animals
Why are animals so irresistible to us? Why do we live with and care so deeply about them? Evolving God
Can scientists discover a prehistory of religion just as they have traced the evolution of technology, language, and art? What does compassion in chimpanzees, or burial patterns in our human ancestors and Neanderthals, tell us about the origins of religion? In Evolving God, named a Top Ten Religion Book for 2007 by the American Library Association, Barbara King explores these questions. The Dynamic Dance
How do chimpanzees, bonobos, and gorillas-- the African apes -- communicate using body postures and gestures? Using her many years of experience studying these apes, Barbara King answers this question in a book that offers a new perspective on the evolution of language. |
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