Becoming a Tiger: The Education of an Animal Child
4/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
From the co–author of the New York Times bestseller When Elephants Weep comes a book that uses true stories backed by scientific research to explore the way young animals discover their worlds and learn how to survive.
How does a baby animal figure out how to get around in the world? How much of what animals know is instinctive, and how much must they learn?
In Becoming a Tiger, bestselling author Susan McCarthy addresses these intriguing matters, presenting fascinating and funny examples of animal behaviour in the laboratory and in the wild. McCarthy shows us how baby animals transform themselves from clueless kittens, clumsy cubs, or scrawny chicks into efficient predators, successful foragers, or deft nest–builders. From geese to mice, dolphins to orangutans, bats to (of course) tigers, McCarthy's warm, amusing, and insightful examinations of animal life and developments provides a surprising window into the mental worlds of our fine fuzzy, furred, finned, and feathered friends.
Readers will be fascinated by a close look at animal intelligence, learning, and family life.
Susan McCarthy
Susan McCarthy, who goes by “Sumac” on SorryWatch.com, is the coauthor (with Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson) of the international bestseller When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals, which has been translated into twenty-one languages. She’s also the author of Becoming a Tiger: How Baby Animals Learn to Live in the Wild. Publications she’s written for include Parade, The Guardian, WIRED, Smithsonian magazine, Outside, and Salon. Her work has been anthologized in The Best American Science Writing and in Mirth of a Nation: The Best Contemporary Humor. She lives in San Francisco.
Read more from Susan Mc Carthy
Getting to Sorry: The Art of Apology at Work and at Home Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Becoming a Tiger: How Baby Animals Learn to Live in the Wild Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Defining Moments: The Transformational Promises of Faith-Based Travel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCommunist Multiculturalism: Ethnic Revival in Southwest China Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Becoming a Tiger
Related ebooks
Animalkind: Remarkable Discoveries about Animals and Revolutionary New Ways to Show Them Compassion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Because the Cat Purrs: How We Relate to Other Species and Why it Matters Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Octopus Scientists Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Big Cat: The St. Croix Cougar Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Social Behavior of Older Animals Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Elephants on the Edge: What Animals Teach Us about Humanity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Dog in the Cave: The Wolves Who Made Us Human Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Quest for the Eastern Cougar: Extinction or Survival? Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Animals' Best Friends: Putting Compassion to Work for Animals in Captivity and in the Wild Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Underdogs: Pets, People, and Poverty Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWild Lives: Leading Conservationists on the Animals and the Planet They Love Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Cougar Conundrum: Sharing the World with a Successful Predator Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsUndeniable Solidarity: How Dogs and Humans Domesticated One Another Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReturn of the Wolf: Conflict and Coexistence Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCrazy Critter Lady Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5...And dog decided to meet man: Origin and Evolution od domestic Dog Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAnimal Minds: Beyond Cognition to Consciousness Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Dancing Mouse: A Study in Animal Behavior Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Great White Bear: A Natural & Unnatural History of the Polar Bear Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRescue Dog Tales: The Story of Arthur and Sixteen Dogs Who Found Forever Homes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Moral Lives of Animals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Animal Madness: How Anxious Dogs, Compulsive Parrots, and Elephants in Recovery Help Us Understand Ourselves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wild Justice: The Moral Lives of Animals Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Tribe of Tiger: Cats and Their Culture Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The New Chimpanzee: A Twenty-First-Century Portrait of Our Closest Kin Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsZooland: The Institution of Captivity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tamed and Untamed: Close Encounters of the Animal Kind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ignoring Nature No More: The Case for Compassionate Conservation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn the Company of Animals: Stories of Extraordinary Encounters Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Biology For You
Anatomy 101: From Muscles and Bones to Organs and Systems, Your Guide to How the Human Body Works Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Peptide Protocols: Volume One Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fantastic Fungi: How Mushrooms Can Heal, Shift Consciousness, and Save the Planet Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Sapiens: A Graphic History, Volume 2: The Pillars of Civilization Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Obesity Code: the bestselling guide to unlocking the secrets of weight loss Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Ultralearning: Master Hard Skills, Outsmart the Competition, and Accelerate Your Career Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Written in Bone: Hidden Stories in What We Leave Behind Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dopamine Detox: Biohacking Your Way To Better Focus, Greater Happiness, and Peak Performance Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All That Remains: A Renowned Forensic Scientist on Death, Mortality, and Solving Crimes Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5This Will Make You Smarter: 150 New Scientific Concepts to Improve Your Thinking Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Great Mortality: An Intimate History of the Black Death, the Most Devastating Plague of All Time Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Winner Effect: The Neuroscience of Success and Failure Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Mother of God: An Extraordinary Journey into the Uncharted Tributaries of the Western Amazon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Coming Plague: Newly Emerging Diseases in a World Out of Balance Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lifespan: Why We Age—and Why We Don't Have To Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lies My Gov't Told Me: And the Better Future Coming Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-First Century Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jaws: The Story of a Hidden Epidemic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Grieving Brain: The Surprising Science of How We Learn from Love and Loss Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body's Most Underrated Organ (Revised Edition) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Vax-Unvax: Let the Science Speak Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Trauma and Adversity Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Suicidal: Why We Kill Ourselves Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Woman: An Intimate Geography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Other Minds: The Octopus, the Sea, and the Deep Origins of Consciousness Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for Becoming a Tiger
23 ratings2 reviews
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Generally speaking I only like hard science books on animal behaviour and so I put off reading this for a while because I thought it would be fluffy stories of sweet little animals. It didn't help that the author often collaborates on books with Jeffrey Moussaieff, the master of the fluffy animal behavioural tome. However, one day, without any new book to read I thought I would give it a try. It was amazing!
The problem with the strictly-scientific animal behaviour books is that the research is generally done in laboratories where the animal lives an extremely deprived life. The problems it is expected to solve are ones that interest people, not necessarily ones that interest a bored animal. (Or person for that matter. I was recently reading of an experiment where the pigeons who got the answers right were rewarded with seeds to eat. They did a lot better than the test group of students who were only rewarded by a sound. Perhaps the students would have scored better given an M&M or gummy bear).
However, if an animal behaviour book is based solely on field and anectodal observation it has a tendency to be tainted with anthropomorphism. Hence my dislike for the overly-emotional Moussaieff books.
This often-amusing and very easy to read book is a mixture of hard science and scientist-gathered field observation and anecdotal reportage. Thus we learn that although gorillas when tested in a laboratory do not recognise themselves in mirrors, one gorilla who had not only a mirror but a video camera and monitor in his room could certainly recognise himself. He liked to eat his food up close to the camera and watch himself in the monitor. Further, he liked to shine a torch down his throat directly under the camera whilst looking in the monitor. Certainly this gorilla could identify himself and perhaps this means that all previous tests on gorillas have been badly-designed. Without this anecdotal information I would forever be thinking that gorillas couldn't recognise themselves.
Each section of the book moves along rapidly, each paragraph contains a gem of research or reportage, everything from the high problem solving abilities of the cannibalistic portia spider to the strange lengths humans sometimes go to in experiments. (In order for Whooping Cranes to avoid imprinting on people, the experimenters dressed up in crane suits, fed the birds with dummy cranes and when leading them on their first migration, the pilot of the plane was dressed in a crane suit too).
If you only ever read one book on animal behaviour and intelligence, make it this one, you will enjoy it. But then, this will hook you so much, it won't be your only one. Now I have to find more books by Susan McCarthy, she's got me hooked. - Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fascinating book filled with wonderful anecdotes that illustrate and enliven McCarthy's explanations. McCarthy's research is excellent, as shown by the detailed notes and lengthy biography, yet the book is very accessible and fun to read thanks to McCarthy's light touch and occasional humorously irreverent comment. As a popular book rather than a scholarly one it has much more breadth than depth, which makes it easy and fun to read.