The Secret Language of Animals: A Guide to Remarkable Behavior

This clear and concise guide offers sections on creatures of the African jungles, plains, and waterways; Asian forests; warm oceans; North America; and the Poles. Within those sections the material is laid out animal by animal, with information on the communication habits of, for example, the gorilla, lion, African elephant, plains zebra, black rhinoceros, giraffe, ostrich, Nile crocodile, giant panda, peacock, bottlenose dolphin, gray wolf, bald eagle, polar bear, and Adélie penguin. The book opens with a discussion of zoos, for Benyus (A Field Guide to Wildlife; Northwoods Wildlife) is a proponent of well-managed and carefully thought-out facilities as a means of animal preservation while the fragile earth is slowly yet carefully brought back from the brink of ruin. These early pages also provide primer material on general animal behavior, complete with a discussion of habitat, basic behaviors, interacting strategies, and more. A number of pen-and-ink drawings also complement this first chapter.