Animalkind

Animalkind
By Ingrid Newkirk & Gene Stone
4/5 Stars

Animalkind is all about animals, big, small and everything in between. The book is part text-book, part fun facts, and part action-oriented. Bottom line – it was interesting!

Animalkind was written by 2 activist writers – the founder of PETA, and a plant-based author, so the book comes from an animal-rights perspective. However, the first half of the book is really about animals and how they behave, rather than what we can do to help them. (Suggested actions to help animals are saved for the latter part of the book.) Although I have been a vegan for 12+ years, and a PETA member, I always learn something new in a book like this one. Honestly, I was so fascinated by how awesome and interesting animals are that the book made me want to go back to school for a degree in biology, simply for fun. Just a few tidbits:

• Dragonflies can propel in six directions and they fly up to 30 MPH.
• Elephants can discern the difference between male and female roaring sounds.
• Chickens chirp to their babies while they are still in their shells and the chicks talk to their mothers from inside their shells.
• Southern right whales participate in a sort of courtship diving series. If the female is unimpressed with the male’s moves, she goes in search of a more graceful partner.
• Albatross marriages almost always stay together, which can be 50 years!
• Pigeons also mate for life and they share child-rearing duties.
• Macaques (snow monkeys), fruit flies, albatrosses, and chimpanzees (especially bonobos) and often-times bixsexual.
• Octopuses are super intelligent and can “solve mazes, use tools, distinguish between shapes and patterns, and learn through observation.”

In addition to learning about really amazing things about animals, readers will be able to learn about how animals have historically been used in scientific research, as clothing, in entertainment, and of course, as food. I found the history fascinating (sometimes with references hundreds, if not thousands, of years back.) Of course, learning how animals are used today wasn’t any picnic, but that’s why the author expounds quite a bit on “revolutionary new ways to show them compassion.”

If you enjoyed any of James Herriot’s veterinary/animal books, you will enjoy this book. This book has a lot of animal “stories” that reminded me of his books.

The book easily earns 4/5 stars. I knocked off one star because I did not find the ways to show compassion “revolutionary” because I didn’t see anything new to do. (I confess that this is a little unfair since I have already been a committed vegan for over a decade.) Also, some of the animals-facts were a little wordy. That said, I really enjoyed the book and found lots of new and interesting information in it. For instance, I had absolutely no idea that aquariums are just as tortuous for animals as places like Sea World are…..so, no more aquariums for me!

Give it a read and let me know what you think. If you have similar books to recommend, please let me know! I am always looking for new animal books to read.