Carl Safina

When ecologist Carl Safina and his wife, Patricia, took in a near-death baby owl, they expected that, like other wild orphans they’d rescued, she’d be a temporary presence. But Alfie’s feathers were not growing correctly, requiring prolonged care. As Alfie grew and gained strength, she became a part of the family, joining a menagerie of dogs and chickens and making a home for herself in the backyard. Carl and Patricia began to realise that the healing was mutual; Alfie had been braided into their world and was now pulling them into hers. Alfie & Me is the story of the remarkable impact this little owl would have on their lives. The continuing bond of trust following her freedom—and her raising of her own wild brood—coincided with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a year in which Carl and Patricia were forced to spend time at home without the normal obligations of work and travel. Witnessing all the fine details of their feathered friend’s life offered Carl and Patricia a view of existence from Alfie’s perspective. One can travel the world and go nowhere; one can be stuck keeping the faith at home and discover a new world. Safina’s relationship with an owl made him want to better understand how people have viewed humanity’s relationship with nature across cultures and throughout history. Interwoven with Safina’s keen observations, insight and reflections, Alfie & Me is a work of profound beauties and magical timing harboured within one upended year.

Culture is something exclusive to human beings, isn't it? Not so, says intrepid researcher Carl Safina. Becoming Wild reveals the rich cultures that survive in some of Earth's remaining wild places. By showing how sperm whales, scarlet macaws and chimpanzees teach and learn, Safina offers a fresh understanding of what is constantly going on beyond humanity, and how we're all connected. 'Becoming Wild demands that we wake up' Telegraph

Jak dospělí sloni komunikují se svými mláďaty? Které druhy zvuků používají kosatky při hledání potravy? A jak funguje sociální dynamika ve vlčích smečkách? Nejen těmito otázkami se zabývá ekolog a populární autor knih o přírodě Carl Safina. V nesmírně poutavém vyprávění o životě, emocích a způsobech komunikace u zvířat shrnuje poznatky o inteligenci a reakcích tvorů, kteří jsou nám daleko podobnější, než si vůbec dokážeme představit.

Who are we? What do we value? How do we live here? Guided by parents, carers, teachers and siblings, we learn to answer these questions as we grow up. But it's not just us. Many animals must learn to answer them too. In Becoming Wild, Carl Safina reveals that culture, long thought exclusive to humankind, is abundant in the animal kingdom. Sperm whales in the Caribbean communicate through a system of clicks akin to Morse code, announcing which clan they belong to, which family and who they are individually. Among chimpanzees the obsession with male status may guarantee violence, even war, but they also have many ways to quell tensions. As Safina shows, the better we understand the animals with whom we share this planet, the less different from us they seem.