book review "Zoobiquity: What Animals Can Teach Us About Health and the Science of Healing" - by Kathryn Bowers, Barbara Natterson-Horowitz
review by Nancy Mehegan
This well-researched book is a call to open minds and learn what the animals can teach humans about health, evolution and a deeper understanding of ourselves -- important lessons as the world enters its new era.
When the walls between veterinarians and medical doctors are dismantled, astounding discoveries arise. Discoveries that will aid human health, psychologically and physically.
Hunters are not Fat
Hunting is a Calorie-Burner. The sedentary modern man should know this. A study of obese grizzly bears in a zoo prompted this stunning insight by the author:
"No animal evolved to have a plate of food placed in front of him/her. They ran. They dug. They schemed. They starved. Eating was the reward for all that work."
Our easy availability of food harvests is somewhat of a curse. The Copenhagen Zoo was criticized for feeding carcasses to their animals, but devouring fur, bones and crunching on hooves may be more beneficial than the sanitized fare normally provided by zookeepers. Obesity, the author declares is a "disease of the environment", far different from a mere coloric approach.
Reckless Otters
Adolescent animals are risk-takers, impulsive, run in gangs and do the same obnoxious antics as human "teen-agers", researchers find.
Example: "Teen-age otters" will swim into shark-infested waters that adult otters avoid. Youthful curiosity persists in all species, not just humans. "Blending in" or teen-age conformity has evolutionary benefits: travelling in groups is safer in the wild, etc. (how interesting...)
The meaning of Fainting
Behaviors such as the fainting of some animals when confronted by a predator was analyzed in a novel way and shown to have true protective usefulness. It also may explain fainting in humans.
The shakily constructed walls between humans and animals almost prevented the CDC from the recognition of the West Nile Virus. It took a bird expert/pathologist to convince the CDC to re-examine their findings.
Native americans are documented as knowing that animals were close to humans on many levels and teachers. It is time that modern day scientists realize this eternal truth. This book IS A MUST for animal lovers, scientists, nature lovers and the intellectually curiousl Fantastic book.
note: this book was provided by the publisher (Knopf) for review
