Journey Among Animals

Journey among Animals is zoologist Meredith Happold’s delightful and enlightening story of her work with animals – especially bats. It begins with the story of Mickey the mouse-eared bat who taught her to love bats, and her childhood in rural Australia surrounded by goats, horses, dogs and possums who taught her how to establish empathy with animals. Meredith studied zoology at university, going on to become a highly regarded zoologist specializing in animal behaviour and ecology.


Journey among Animals explores some of her field career in Nigeria and Malawi where she and her husband studied the ecology and behaviour of small mammals and bats in many different habitats. Their research culminated in having an African bat named after them (Happolds’ Pipistrelle, Parahypsugo happoldorum) in recognition of their work. Bats are much-maligned animals, but Meredith demonstrates how these delightful, intelligent, friendly, curious, useful creatures are so important in today’s world and Journey among Animals are Meredith’s reflections on how attitudes to animals and the study of animal behaviour have changed during her lifetime.


Meredith Happold was born in Victoria, Australia in 1945 and was a zoologist for over fifty years. She has carried out fieldwork, in Australia and Africa, and has worked as a lecturer or demonstrator in animal behaviour, ecology and other aspects of zoology at four Australian universities. She has been published extensively in scientific journals and wrote/edited the profiles of bats for the book Mammals of Africa. She enjoyed travelling and mixing with people with different lifestyles and cultures. Meredith is now retired.