The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy
What Animals on Earth Reveal About Aliens--and Ourselves
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3.8 • 5 Ratings
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- $6.99
Publisher Description
From a noted Cambridge zoologist, a wildly fun and scientifically sound exploration of what alien life must be like, using universal laws that govern life on Earth and in space.
Scientists are confident that life exists elsewhere in the universe. Yet rather than taking a realistic approach to what aliens might be like, we imagine that life on other planets is the stuff of science fiction. The time has come to abandon our fantasies of space invaders and movie monsters and place our expectations on solid scientific footing.
But short of aliens landing in New York City, how do we know what they are like? Using his own expert understanding of life on Earth and Darwin's theory of evolution--which applies throughout the universe--Cambridge zoologist Dr. Arik Kershenbaum explains what alien life must be like: how these creatures will move, socialize, and communicate. For example, by observing fish whose electrical pulses indicate social status, we can see that other planets might allow for communication by electricity. As there was evolutionary pressure to wriggle along a sea floor, Earthling animals tend to have left/right symmetry; on planets where creatures evolved in midair or in soupy tar, they might be lacking any symmetry at all.
Might there be an alien planet with supersonic animals? A moon where creatures have a language composed of smells? Will aliens scream with fear, act honestly, or have technology? The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy answers these questions using the latest science to tell the story of how life really works, on Earth and in space.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"That life exists elsewhere in the universe seems almost inevitable," writes University of Cambridge zoologist Kershenbaum in his entertaining debut. To learn "a great deal about what aliens must be like, how they live, and how they behave," he writes, humans only need to look closer at animals on Earth. The author discusses ways animals behave in response to their environment: "Most forms serve a function: birds are colourful to attract mates; elephants' trunks are for manipulating food," and concludes that there will be as great a diversity in forms on other planets as there is on Earth. By looking at different methods of animal communication, he explores the senses through which aliens could communicate: smell is unlikely and inconvenient, he writes, unless they're very small, and extraterrestrial life will likely evolve to have vocal abilities, too. Rather than offer a fantastic version of extraterrestrial life, he gives readers something logical to consider, and in so doing provides insight on animals and humans as he explores how life, communication, and movement have evolved. This quirky study of biology is sure to please readers looking to learn about life on other planets, or even here on Earth.
