Animal Life American Museum of Natural History

The essentials of animal life are relatively simple— finding food, self-defense, reproduction, and dispersal—but the ways in which animals achieve these things are extraordinarily complex and varied. From amazing hunting strategies and extraordinary defenses to stunning mating rituals and complex relationships, the wealth of different behaviors reflects the diversity of animals and the huge range of physical and social environments in which they live. Animals populate every corner of the globe from the bottom of the sea to mountain peaks and from the Equator to the poles; they may live in groups of thousands or meet others of their kind just once in a lifetime. An animal’s behavior depends to a large extent on its form and evolutionary history, and the first two parts of this book provide a clear and comprehensive description of the major groups of animals and their evolution, anatomy, and senses. The main part of this book then looks at animals in action. It is divided into eight chapters that look at different aspects of animals’ lives, although these are not always mutually exclusive. It doesn’t attempt to provide a complete catalog of all animal behavior—that would run to many volumes and is expanding all the time. Nevertheless, it is an extensive overview of our current knowledge of animal behavior, including typical and unusual behaviors in different animal groups, classic studies, and new discoveries.