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Books > Science & Mathematics > Biology, life sciences > Zoology & animal sciences > Vertebrates > Mammals > General
A COLLECTION OF ESSAYS PLACING THE HUMAN-WOLF RELATIONSHIP IN
HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVEInternational in range and chronological in
organisation, this volume aims to grasp the maincurrents of thought
about interactions with the wolf in modern history. It focuses on
perceptions, interactions and dependencies, and includes cultural
and social analyses as well as biological aspects. Wolves have been
feared and admired, hunted and cared for. At the same historical
moment, different cultural and social groups have upheld widely
diverging ideas about the wolf. Fundamental dichotomies in modern
history, between nature and culture, wilderness and civilisation
and danger and security, have been portrayed in terms of wolf-human
relationships. The wolf has been part of aesthetic, economic,
political, psychological and cultural reasoning albeit it is
nowadays mainly addressed as an object of wildlife management.
There has been a major shift in perception from dangerous predator
to endangered species, but the big bad fairytale wolf remains a
cultural icon. This volume roots study of human-wolf relationships
coherently within the disciplines of environmental and animal
history for the first time.
"New York Times" Bestseller
A "Discover" Magazine Best Book of 2012
An "O, The Oprah Magazine ""Summer Reading" Pick
Finalist, 2013 AAAS/Subaru "SB&F "Prize for Excellence in
Science Books
Do animals overeat? Get breast cancer? Have fainting spells?
Inspired by an eye-opening consultation at the Los Angeles Zoo,
which revealed that a monkey experienced the same symptoms of heart
failure as her human patients, cardiologist Barbara
Natterson-Horowitz embarked upon a project that would reshape how
she practiced medicine. Beginning with the above questions, she
began informally researching every affliction that she encountered
in humans to learn whether it happened with animals, too. And
usually, it did: dinosaurs suffered from brain cancer, koalas can
catch chlamydia, reindeer seek narcotic escape in hallucinogenic
mushrooms, stallions self-mutilate, and gorillas experience
clinical depression. Natterson-Horowitz and science writer Kathryn
Bowers have dubbed this pan-species approach to medicine
"zoobiquity." Here, they present a revelatory understanding of what
animals can teach us about the human body and mind, exploring how
animal and human commonality can be used to diagnose, treat, and
heal patients of all species.
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