Marlene Zuk

We evolved to eat berries rather than bagels, to live in caves rather than cities, to run barefoot rather than play rugby—or did we? As Marlene Zuk reveals, theories about how our ancestors lived—and why we should emulate them—are often based on pseudoscience and speculation rather than actual research. Taking us to the cutting edge of biology, Zuk explains that evolution can work much faster than was previously realized, meaning that we are not biologically the same as our caveman ancestors. She shows how our fetishized visions of an ideal evolutionary past in which we ate, lived, and reproduced as we were “meant to” can lead us astray and distract us from more interesting considerations of how we differ from our ancestors. Along the way, she debunks the caveman diet, discusses whether we're really designed to run barefoot, and considers modern-day courtship and child-rearing practices in the context of how our ancestors lived.

Paleofantasy: What Evolution Really Tells Us about Sex, Diet, and How We Live

Dancing Cockatoos and the Dead Man Test - How Behavior Evolves and Why It Matters

A biologist presents a “consistently delightful” look at the mysteries of insect behavior (The New York Times Book Review). Insects have inspired fear, fascination, and enlightenment for centuries. They are capable of incredibly complex behavior, even with brains often the size of a poppy seed. How do they accomplish feats that look like human activity—personality, language, childcare—with completely different pathways from our own? What is going on inside the mind of those ants that march like boot-camp graduates across your kitchen floor? How does the lead ant know exactly where to take her colony, to that one bread crumb that your nightly sweep missed? Can insects be taught new skills as easily as your new puppy? Sex on Six Legs is a startling and exciting book that provides answers to these questions and many more, examining not only the bedroom lives of creepy crawlies but also some of our own long-held assumptions about learning, the nature of personality, and what our own large brains might be for. “Smart, engaging . . . Zuk approaches her subject with such humor and enthusiasm for the intricacies of insect life, even bug-phobes will relish her account.” —Publishers Weekly, starred review

Lessons on Life, Love, and Language from the Insect World

Sex on Six Legs

An evolutionary biologist explores how germs, infections, bacteria, and viruses have shaped human life, examining the role of disease while answering such questions as why men die younger than women and how parasites can sometimes make us well.

Friendly Worms, Ladybug Sex, and the Parasites that Make Us who We are

Riddled with Life

Leigh W. Simmons

What is responsible for the differences between the sexes in so many animals, from the brilliant plumage of birds of paradise to the antlers on deer? And why are the traits that distinguish the sexes sometimes apparently detrimental to survival? Even when they look more or less alike, why do males and females sometimes behave differently? Questions like these have intrigued scientists and the public alike for many years, and new discoveries are showing us both how wildly variable the natural world is, and how some basic principles can help explain much of that variation. Like natural selection, sexual selection is a process that results from differential representation of genes in successive generations. Under sexual selection, however, the crucial characteristics that determine whether an individual reproduces depend on sexual competition, rather than survival ability. This Very Short Introduction considers the history of our understanding of sexual selection, from Darwin's key insights to the modern day. Considering the investment animals place on reproduction, variation in mating systems, sexual conflict, and the origin of sexual dimorphism, Marlene Zuk and Leigh Simmons discuss questions such as whether females can really choose between males on aesthetic grounds, and how sexual conflict is resolved in different species. They conclude with a consideration of the thorny question of how, and even if, sexual selection theory applies to humans. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Sexual Selection: A Very Short Introduction

A lively exploration of animal behavior in all its glorious complexity, whether in tiny wasps, lumbering elephants, or ourselves. For centuries, people have been returning to the same tired nature-versus-nurture debate, trying to determine what we learn and what we inherit. In Dancing Cockatoos and the Dead Man Test, biologist Marlene Zuk goes beyond the binary and instead focuses on interaction, or the way that genes and environment work together. Driving her investigation is a simple but essential question: How does behavior evolve? Drawing from a wealth of research, including her own on insects, Zuk answers this question by turning to a wide range of animals and animal behavior. There are stories of cockatoos that dance to rock music, ants that heal their injured companions, dogs that exhibit signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder, and so much more. For insights into animal intelligence, mating behavior, and an organism’s ability to fight disease, she explores the behavior of smart spiders, silent crickets, and crafty crows. In each example, she clearly demonstrates how these traits were produced by the complex and diverse interactions of genes and the environment and urges us to consider how that same process evolves behavior in us humans. Filled with delightful anecdotes and fresh insights, Dancing Cockatoos and the Dead Man Test helps us see both other animals and ourselves more clearly, demonstrating that animal behavior can be remarkably similar to human behavior, and wonderfully complicated in its own right.

Dancing Cockatoos and the Dead Man Test: How Behavior Evolves and Why It Matters

A provocative tour of recent findings in animal sexuality and evolutionary biology seeks to demonstrate how anthropomorphism and gender politics have affected our knowledge of the natural world and shows how a broader approach, based on feminist biology, can bring about a more rounded understanding.

Marlene Zuk

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