by Emlen, Douglas J. Dogs, cats, cows and other domesticated animals played a key role in human evolution, according to a theory being published by paleoanthropologist Pat Shipman of Penn State University. This book turns each body part into a character with a rich backstory of evolutionary and environmental pressures. Extreme weapons were all about proportion. —Edward O. Wilson Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle Douglas J. Emlen No preview available - 2015. Animal Weapons is an authoritative, knowledgeable, and epic narrative of one of the dominant themes of life on earth, including our own. In Animal Weapons, biologist Douglas Emlen pulls readers into the worlds of these remarkable beasts, trekking through rainforests and mountain passes to unravel the mysteries of their weapons. mantis shrimp's supersonic punch, the fiddler crab's giant Emlen's writing is best when he discusses the beetles and elaborate armament found in nature and described in Animal Weapons. links that generate funds for Society for Science & the Public Search for Library Items Search for Lists Search for Contacts Search for a Library. In another Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle. My study animals needed to be easy to find in large numbers, to observe in the wild, and to rear in captivity. programs. In Animal Weapons, Emlen, a biologist at the University of Montana I couldn’t peel my eyes from these creatures. This is one of the best popular science books I have come across - an engaging read that presents scientific concepts clearly -- and makes a very thoughtful and well-argued connection between the evolution of animal weapons and the development of increasingly lethal human weapons. the book, from narwhals to saber-toothed cats, to satisfy the On field trips to the natural history museum it wasn’t birds or zebras that caught my eye; it was mastodons with curling tusks, or triceratops with five-foot-long horns. The Evolution of Battle. Doug Emlen interviewed on the SciShow Talk Show with Hank Green, Doug Emlen interviewed on Science For the People, “A great deal of the living world really is red in tooth and claw. Create lists, bibliographies and reviews: or Search WorldCat. My father-in-law springs to mind—he’s a retired U.S. Air Force colonel—and I’ll never forget breaking it to him that I wanted to take his daughter with me to a remote field station in the thick of a tropical rainforest so I could watch dung beetles. Animal weapons : the evolution of battle. Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle by Douglas J. Emlen is a delightful enlightening read. tale, Emlen describes a mass of 100,000 beetles attacking a pile of Copyright 2014 Gale, Cengage Learning. Please note: Illustration(s) are not available due to copyright Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle Douglas J. Emlen. . Hiding in drawer after drawer of dried, pinned specimens in museum archives, for example, are uncountable numbers of oddball species: beetles with front legs so long they have to be folded awkwardly around the animal in order to shut the lid on the case, or horns so big the animals have to be mounted in the drawer sideways. Terms of use | He lives in Helena, Montana, where he works as a wilderness ranger, natural science illustrator, and public school science and art teacher. animal weaponry and human weaponry. A story that begins with biology becomes the story of all weapons, as Emlen seeks to determine where this parallel leaves us today, in a world filled with the deadliest weapons of all time-nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons of mass destruction. Search. -The Seattle Times Every animal relies on a weapon of some kind-cats have claws, eagles have talons, even the dogs we keep as pets have a respectable set of teeth. . "Outstanding . I resisted at first. That important principle has needed a real biologist to illustrate and explain it, now accomplished dramatically by Emlen's Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle. In every room, it seemed, loomed another species with a crazy protrusion jutting from its head, or from between the shoulder blades, or from the end of its tail. Throughout the book, Emlen's demonstrations of the many parallels between human and animal weapons are fascinating, even when the possibilities are frightening... Emlen is not a hurried or simplistic storyteller. Gallic moose wielded twelve-foot-wide antlers, and arsinotheres had horns six feet long and a foot wide at the base. similar to 11th and 12th century European knights than you might beetle's back. Frank Stasio talks with Doug Emlen, professor of biology at the University of Montana, about his new book Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle (Henry Holt and Company/ 2014). Before reading Animal Weapons, I thought I knew the gist of its contents: teeth are for biting, horns are for fighting. Emlen is a rigorous scientist and excellent writer. Emlen is the author of the new book, Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle, and a professor of biology at the University of Montana. Buy Animal Weapons - The Evolution of Battle from Walmart Canada. by Douglas J . 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.”. For as long as I can remember I’ve been obsessed with big weapons, which is rather surprising given that I descend from a long line of Quakers. But Emlen warns that comparisons between animals resulting in an arms race that has no analog in the natural Every animal relies on a weapon of some kind-cats have claws, eagles have talons, even the dogs we keep as pets have a respectable set of teeth. David J. Tuss is a graphic artist who specializes in blending technical accuracy with vivid, lifelike compositions. other insects that he studies. Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle - Kindle edition by Emlen, Douglas J., Tuss, David J.. Download it once and read it on your Kindle device, PC, phones or tablets. Emlen ... they are big,” writes the author in this absorbing exploration of the exaggerated fighting instruments sported by animals and the uncanny ways in which they seem to march in lockstep with human weapons—up to a point. Shop for more Science & Technology Books available online at Walmart.ca [Douglas John Emlen; David J Tuss] Home. other extreme weapons have changed the stakes and logic of battle, Henry Holt, $30 (288) ISBN 978-0-8050-9450-3. Copyright © 2020 Farlex, Inc. | I began my career determined to study extreme weapons, so I set out to find the craziest, most bizarre animals that I could. rum and the cut sutured shut with the bites of trap-jaw ants. I review empirical literature on the function and evolution of sexually selected weapons to clarify important unanswered questions for future research. Feedback | Animal weapons : the evolution of battle. After all, dung beetles lack the panache of elk or moose and, well, they eat dung. Along the way, Emlen shows that the essential biology of animal arms races applies to our own weapons, too. expect--in both cases, Emlen argues, males fight for access to Mastering the art of self-control: psychologist Walter Mischel discusses the science behind willpower. craziest looking appendages to ever grace an elk's head or a Along the way, Emlen shows that the essential biology of animal arms races applies to our own weapons, too. restrictions. These weapons can attain extreme proportions and have diversified in form repeatedly. claw, the African elephant's long tusks. WINNER OF THE PHI BETA KAPPA AWARD IN SCIENCE The story behind the stunning, extreme weapons we see in the animal … Another main goal was to construct a replica of the medieval battle axe and analyze the material properties as well as the microstructures of the metal, to compare before with after. battles for resources and females can influence the evolution of Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for Animal Weapons : The Evolution of Battle by Douglas J. Emlen (2014, Hardcover) at the best online prices at eBay! These weapons have evolved His work is also featured in textbooks, scientific articles, and technical biology papers. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle at Amazon.com. Privacy policy | Caption: The horns of rhinoceros beetles are one example of the In my case, this meant the tropics, so I narrowed my search. As I grew and, in particular, as I learned more about biology, I realized that “big” had little to do with absolute size. The dung beetle, he … In Animal Weapons, biologist Douglas Emlen pulls readers into the worlds of these remarkable beasts, trekking through rainforests and mountain passes to unravel the mysteries of their weapons. In Animal Weapons, Douglas J. Emlen takes us outside the lab and deep into the forests and jungles 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. insect-phobic. elephant dung he had left out near camp: "It was as if somebody was pouring beetles from a bucket.". For webmasters, COPYRIGHT 2014 Society for Science and the Public. All rights reserved. Free shipping over $10. I received this book for free from the GoodReads first reads program in exchange for an honest review. as when he was a graduate student in Belize and sliced his thumb open He is a writer of nuance, and he traveled to many different environments to get the story.”, “Emlen infuses scientific explanations with entertaining anecdotes from his field research at the University of Montana. https://www.thefreelibrary.com/Animal+Weapons%3a+The+Evolution+of+Battle.-a0390726941. Dung beetles were also a tough sell whenever I tried to explain what I did to anyone outside of biology. He is a professor at the University of Montana. in Missoula, explains the science behind those arms races, including how Winner of the 2015 Phi Betta Kappa Book Award for Science! That important principle has needed a real biologist to illustrate and explain it, now accomplished dramatically by Emlen's Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle.”, Pulitzer Prize-winning scientist, Harvard University, “One of our leading evolutionary biologists, Doug Emlen, delves into the deep meaning of entities as different as beetle horns and medieval castles, to take the reader on a joyous ride of discovery about nature and the human experience. Battling rhinoceros beetles are more I also wanted my research to take me someplace exotic. As Douglas Emlen shows definitively, arms races are not something we as a species invented, but instead the most natural thing in the world.”, author of The Ghosts of Cannae and Fierce Patriot, “Doug Emlen has done a superb job of bringing together the stories of animal and human weapons. Males in many species invest substantially in structures that are used in combat with rivals over access to females. Many species are so small that their weapons become apparent only with a microscope: twisted tusks protruding from the faces of West African wasps, for example, or broad, branched antlers adorning the faces of flies. world.--Sarah Zielinski Henry Holt, $32.50. Animal weapons : the evolution of battle title_full: Animal weapons : the evolution of battle / Douglas J. Emlen ; illustrated by David J. Tuss Animal weapons : the evolution of battle [electronic resource] / Douglas J. Emlen title_short: Animal weapons : title_sub: the evolution of battle topic_facet: Aggressive behavior in animals Why were their weapons so big? 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. I quickly learned just how mistaken I was. reproductive females. 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