8 Popular Science Books About Animals for the Zoologically Inclined

This book is a fascinating exploration of how animals perceive the world around them, and how much of the world is beyond the reach of the five human senses. It is a humbling look at the limits of an anthropocentric worldview, and the importance of understanding the perceptions of other living creatures to truly understand the world we all inhabit.

With this book, step into the worlds that were, and meet animals that no longer roam the earth. It takes you across time and place in the prehistoric world to reconstruct it from the clues left behind in some of the major fossil sites that have been studied by scientists. The past of life on earth comes alive in the pages of this book to build a framework based on which we can think about its present and future.

This book is a must read for an urgent, chilling look at the havoc that mankind has wreaked, and is wreaking, on the other inhabitants of the planet. Elizabeth Kolbert travels to different corners of the world to interact with scientists who are studying different aspects of this catastrophe — the sixth extinction, the deadliest event for life on earth since the extinction of the dinosaurs.

In their debut collection of essays, Sabrina Imbler combines marine biology with reflections about their personal experiences. The book interweaves the science of life in the ocean with observations about various facets of human life, making a compelling case for the interconnectedness of the natural world.

For the longest time, humans have imposed their patriarchal perceptions onto the female members of other species. In Bitch, Lucy Cooke embarks on a takedown of these archaic perceptions through a fun foray into sex and femaleness in the animal world, looking at a wide range of creatures from insects to lions. This book is an entertaining read that demonstrates just how artificial human notions of sex roles are, and how we need diverse human perspectives to truly understand the animal world in all its bizarre glory.

Cephalopods have been evolving independently from humans for hundreds of millions of years, yet the intelligence of the octopus continues to astonish us humans. In this book, Peter Godfrey Smith traces the evolution of octopus intelligence, and uses it as a lens to look at the origin and nature of consciousness.

Jennifer Ackerman delves deep into the subject of avian intelligence. Peppered with charming anecdotes, and told in delightful prose, the book looks at various aspects of the genius of birds, and explores a wide range of capabilities across different species of birds.

This is a deep dive into the evolution of the iconic monarch butterflies alongside the toxic milkweed plant on which the butterflies depend on for food. The book talks about the life cycle of the butterflies, the fascinating story of their coevolution with the milkweed plant, and analyses possible reasons for their rapidly decreasing numbers.