We share the earth with a wide variety of animal species, each of which brings something special to the diversity of the planet. By knowing more about how animals behave and live, we gain a greater understanding of how life evolved and the importance of biodiversity. Animal Parents examines how these animals care for their young to ensure their survival, care that is as varied as is animal life on earth. The book provides a thorough guide on the behavior of animal parenting, and helps students understand how vertebrates raise and nurture their young. Perfect for classroom papers, Animal Parents is highly illustrated with both color and black and white illustrations of the animals. Animal Parents examines a wide variety of behaviors: Some fish carry their eggs in their mouths to protect them, while male seahorses incubate their mate's eggs in a stomach pouch, and certain frogs make bubble nests to keep their eggs moist. Some snakes shiver to raise their body temperature a few degrees to incubate their eggs. Certain birds bury their eggs in a mound of soil and vegetation, and check the temperature with their beaks, while others shed feathers on their bellies so they can warm their eggs Animal parents also must provide food for their young, such has the frogs that lay eggs just for their tadpoles to eat, or the pigeons that regurgitate a secretion from their throats for their chicks. Mammals also exhibit a wide ranges of behaviors, from species in which babies may be hidden in a den or carried with their mothers, to those that simply leave their offspring on an ice flow.

We share the earth with a wide variety of animal species, each of which brings something special to the diversity of the planet. By knowing more about how animals behave and live, we gain a greater understanding of how life evolved and the importance of biodiversity. Domestication investigates the animal behavioral trait with which we are most familiar -- how various species of animals have, over the last few millenia, become useful members of human societies. Each chapter examines a particular type of domestication, and includes accounts of of exemplary species that examines their biology, their domestication history, the results of domestication on their shape, size, color and physiology, and their comparative behavior - before and after domestication. Domestication is highly illustrated with both color and black and white illustrations. Domestication examines a wide variety of domesticated animals: BLTaming the Wolf -- how pre-modern humans domesticated the animals that now share our homes and households BLChanging Nature -- the new domesticated animals of the 20th century -- monkeys bred for the pet trade, llamas hybridised with alpacas for greater pet appeal and woolier coats, the production of fennec foxes, albino hedgehogs and mutant hairless guinea pigs BLConservation by Domestication -- how zoos attempt to maintain species purity in breeding, which results in some form of domestication BLFeral Animals -- the fate of domesticated animals that become re-established in the wild, such as feral pigs, feral cats, and wild horses.