Lucy Cooke

'Endlessly fascinating.' - Bill Bryson 'Eye-opening, informative and very funny!' - Chris Packham 'Well-informed and downright funny' - Richard Dawkins History is full of strange animal stories invented by the brightest and most influential, from Aristotle to Disney. But when it comes to understanding animals, we've got a long way to go. Whether we're watching a viral video of romping baby pandas or looking at a picture of penguins `holding hands', we often project our own values - innocence, abstinence, hard work - onto animals. So you've probably never considered that moose get drunk and that penguins are notorious cheats. In The Unexpected Truth About Animals Zoologist Lucy unravels many such myths - that eels are born from sand, that swallows hibernate under water, and that bears gave birth to formless lumps that are licked into shape by their mothers - to show that the stories we create reveal as much about us as they do about the animals. Astonishing, illuminating and laugh-out-loud funny.

Lidská historie je plná příběhů o zvířatech, napsaných těmi nejmoudřejšími a nejznámějšími lidmi – od Aristotela po Disneye. Přesto nás ve snaze zvířatům porozumět čeká ještě velmi dlouhá cesta.Ať už se díváme na videa s dovádějícími pandami nebo na fotky, na kterých se tučňáci „drží za ruce“, často si do jejich chování promítáme vlastní hodnoty. Takže byste asi nikdy neřekli, že se losové každou chvíli opijí a tučňáci neustále podvádí.V knize Překvapivá fakta o zvířatech nám zooložka Lucy Cooke odhaluje pravdu o zvířecích mýtech, jako že se úhoři rodí v písku, vlaštovky hibernují pod vodou, nebo že medvědice rodí beztvaré hrudky, ze kterých teprve jazykem vytvarují formu medvíděte. Autorka tak přibližuje, jak se do podobných příběhů promítají nejen osobnosti zvířat, ale i ty naše.

Selected for the Telegraph's 'best books for summer 2022' and as one of the Guardian's '50 hottest new books for a great escape'. What does it mean to be female? Mother, carer, the weaker sex? Think again. In the last few decades a revolution has been brewing in zoology and evolutionary biology. Lucy Cooke introduces us to a riotous cast of animals, and the scientists studying them, that are redefining the female of the species. Meet the female lemurs of Madagascar, our ancient primate cousins that dominate the males of their species physically and politically. Or female albatross couples, hooking up together to raise their chicks in Hawaii. Or the meerkat mothers of the Kalahari Desert - the most murderous mammals on the planet. The bitches in BITCH overturn outdated binary expectations of bodies, brains, biology and behaviour. Lucy Cooke's brilliant new book will change how you think - about sex, sexual identity and sexuality in animals and also the very forces that shape evolution.