Animal Weapons
The Evolution of Battle
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4.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
WINNER OF THE PHI BETA KAPPA AWARD IN SCIENCE
The story behind the stunning, extreme weapons we see in the animal world--teeth and horns and claws--and what they can tell us about the way humans develop and use arms and other weapons
In Animal Weapons, Doug Emlen takes us outside the lab and deep into the forests and jungles where he's been studying animal weapons in nature for years, to explain the processes behind the most intriguing and curious examples of extreme animal weapons—fish with mouths larger than their bodies and bugs whose heads are so packed with muscle they don't have room for eyes. As singular and strange as some of the weapons we encounter on these pages are, we learn that similar factors set their evolution in motion. Emlen uses these patterns to draw parallels to the way we humans develop and employ our own weapons, and have since battle began. He looks at everything from our armor and camouflage to the evolution of the rifle and the structures human populations have built across different regions and eras to protect their homes and communities. With stunning black and white drawings and gorgeous color illustrations of these concepts at work, Animal Weapons brings us the complete story of how weapons reach their most outsized, dramatic potential, and what the results we witness in the animal world can tell us about our own relationship with weapons of all kinds.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Emlen (coauthor of Evolution: Making Sense of Life) showcases his lifetime interest in weaponry in this work on the arms race in both the animal kingdom and the human world. Emlen begins by describing his curiosity with animal tusks and horns at the natural history museum as a child and goes on to describe the evolution of all manner of animal weapons, from the horns of his beloved dung beetles to the tusks of elephant species. He goes beyond mere description to illustrate why some species develop "extravagant weapons" while others do not. Emlen infuses scientific explanations with entertaining anecdotes from his field research at the University of Montana. Each step of the way, he provides parallels with human weapon development and design, from ancient civilizations to weapons of mass destruction, and the evolutionary process of animals. While his conclusions about the human arms race are dire, it is his description of animal weaponry in action and in evolution that will captivate.
