1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910781298703321

Autore

Balcombe Jonathan <1959->

Titolo

The exultant ark [[electronic resource] ] : a pictorial tour of animal pleasure / / Jonathan Balcombe

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Berkeley [Calif.], : University of California Press, c2011

ISBN

1-283-27777-8

9786613277770

0-520-94864-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (225 p.)

Disciplina

591.5022/2

Soggetti

Emotions in animals

Animal behavior

Pleasure

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- INTRODUCTION -- Play -- Food -- Touch -- Courtship and Sex -- Love -- Comfort -- Companionship -- Other Pleasures -- Conclusion: implications of animal pleasure -- Notes -- References -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

Nature documentaries often depict animal life as a grim struggle for survival, but this visually stunning book opens our eyes to a different, more scientifically up-to-date way of looking at the animal kingdom. In more than one hundred thirty striking images, The Exultant Ark celebrates the full range of animal experience with dramatic portraits of animal pleasure ranging from the charismatic and familiar to the obscure and bizarre. These photographs, windows onto the inner lives of pleasure seekers, show two polar bears engaged in a bout of wrestling, hoary marmots taking time for a friendly chase, Japanese macaques enjoying a soak in a hot spring, a young bull elk sticking out his tongue to catch snowflakes, and many other rewarding moments. Biologist and best-selling author Jonathan Balcombe is our guide, interpreting the images within the scientific context of what is known about animal behavior. In the end, old attitudes fall away as we gain a heightened sense of animal individuality and of the pleasures that



make life worth living for all sentient beings.