Animal Science

It may surprise you to learn that there are over seven million horses in America - even more than when they were the only means of transportation - and nearly two million horse owners. Acclaimed journalist and avid equestrian Sarah Maslin Nir is one of them; she began riding horses when she was just two years old and hasn’t stopped since. Horse Crazy is a fascinating, funny, and moving love letter to these graceful animals and the people who - like her - are obsessed with them.

As the dark forces that have come between the four warrior Clans grow stronger, Jayfeather is summoned to the mountains by a desperate plea - the Tribe of Rushing Water is on the brink of being lost forever.

The sixth book in the Dawn of the Clans series takes listeners back to the earliest days of the Clans, when the cats first settled in the forest and began to forge the warrior code. After moons of strife, the forest cats have settled into five camps. But now, the dangerous rogue Slash has kidnapped Clear Sky's mate, Star Flower, and made demands for prey that the cats cannot afford to meet. Desperate to save Star Flower, Clear Sky must convince the other groups - led by Tall Shadow, Wind Runner, Thunder, and River Ripple - to join forces, or their new way of life may not survive.

The first great battle has ended, and each group has agreed to a truce. But merely keeping the peace may not guarantee their survival. When a deadly disease threatens to strike deep into the heart of both camps, the cats must work together to find the only thing that can save them - the mysterious Blazing Star....

Riley Black brings us back in time to prehistoric seas, swamps, forests, and savannas where critical moments in plant evolution unfolded. Each chapter stars plants and animals alike, underscoring how the interactions between species have helped shape the world we call home. As the chapters move upwards in time, Black guides listeners along the burgeoning trunk of the Tree of Life, stopping to appreciate branches of an evolutionary story that links the world we know with one we can only just perceive now through the silent stone, from ancient roots to the present.

They have always lived by the code—but only change can keep the peace. A new age is dawning on the warrior Clans. Now a new generation of warriors rises—one wrestling with the legacy of his great ancestor Firestar, one seeking to protect her troubled Clan, and one yearning to prove herself as a medicine cat—as leaders from all five Clans agree that the Warrior Code must be reformed.

Jo is a gifted archer with a burden on his back and a fire within. Eager to see the Longtreaders receive justice, he travels from his Halfwind Citadel home to a Cloud Mountain poised on the brink of war. What he finds there will confront his convictions and test his resolve as the war begins and King Jupiter's heir is revealed. A kingdom in the balance. An arrow aimed at the heart of darkness. Who will take the shot?

Crookedkit dreams of becoming RiverClan’s next great leader. Then a mysterious cat appears in his dreams, whispering promises of glory - if only Crookedkit will pledge his undying loyalty to his Clan. No cat could have imagined the terror and destruction that would lie in one seemingly harmless promise....

Warriors Super Edition: Tallstar's Revenge is an epic stand-alone adventure in Erin Hunter's number-one nationally best-selling Warriors series! This never-before-told story offers Erin Hunter fans their first look at the inner workings of WindClan and reveals the truth about Tallstar's past before the events of Into the Wild (Warriors, Book 1). After a tragedy leaves the young warrior Talltail filled with bitterness and an all-consuming hunger for vengeance, he sets off on a dangerous quest for revenge - far outside the bounds of the warrior code.

Kate and her younger brother, Tom, lead dull, uninteresting lives. And if their dull, uninteresting parents are anything to go by, they don't have much to look forward to. Why can't Kate have thrilling adventures and save the world the way people do in books? Even her 11th birthday is shaping up to be mundane - that is, until her mysterious and highly irresponsible Uncle Herbert, whom she's never even met before, surprises her with the most unexpected, exhilarating, inappropriate birthday present of all time: a colossal steam locomotive called the Silver Arrow.

For the first time, all five warrior Clans have settled into their true homes in the territory around the lake. But when a shockingly harsh leaf-bare season descends on the forest, a new darkness begins to spread - a shadow that threatens a beloved Clan leader, the cats’ connection with their ancestors in StarClan, and the very warrior code by which they live.

When the Iraq war began, conservationist Lawrence Anthony could think of only one thing: the fate of the Baghdad Zoo, caught in the crossfire at the heart of the city. Once Anthony entered Iraq, he discovered that hostilities and uncontrolled looting had devastated the zoo and its animals. Working with members of the zoo staff and a few compassionate U.S. soldiers, Anthony defended the zoo, bartered for food on war-torn streets, and scoured bombed palaces for desperately needed supplies.

Tory Brennan, niece of acclaimed forensic anthropologist Temperance Brennan (of the Bones novels and hit TV show), is the leader of a ragtag band of teenage "sci-philes" who live on a secluded island off the coast of South Carolina. When the group rescues a dog caged for medical testing on a nearby island, they are exposed to an experimental strain of canine parvovirus that changes their lives forever.

The perfect gift for fans of All Creatures Great and Small, this is a charming collection of classic stories from James Herriot’s much-loved books with insights into his life and work from his children Rosie and Jim. With astute observations and boundless humour, country vet Herriot captures the spirit of the Yorkshire Dales and of rural communities on the cusp of change, before tractors and machines had taken over and modern medicines and antibiotics transformed veterinary work.

Generations of dogs have been labeled training lemons for requiring actual motivation when all along they were perfectly normal. Numerous other completely and utterly normal dogs have been branded as canine misfits simply because they grew up to act like dogs. Barking, chewing, sniffing, licking, jumping up, and occasionally (just like people) having arguments are as normal and natural for dogs as wagging tails and burying bones.

Listeners will be awestruck by the hive as superorganism and how the individual bee lives and behaves within it, perfectly suited to each specific job it performs. From their intricate dances and information-rich pheromones to how they sense and respond to their environment, learn, and remember, this immersive journey into the world of bees offers an entirely new perspective on the wisdom of nature and our relationship to it.

Zoologist Jo Wimpenny turns a critical eye to Aesop's fables to discover whether there is any scientific truth to their portrayal of the animal kingdom. She brings the tales into the twenty-first century, introducing the latest findings on the most fascinating branches of ethological research—the study of why animals do the things they do. In each chapter she interrogates a classic fable and a different topic—future planning, tool use, self-recognition, cooperation and deception—concluding with a verdict on the veracity of each fable's portrayal from a scientific perspective.

Four children separated by vast distances all undergo the same ritual, watched by cloaked strangers. Four flashes of light erupt, and from them emerge the unmistakable shapes of incredible beasts - a wolf, a leopard, a panda, a falcon. Suddenly the paths of these children - and the world - have been changed forever.

Thanks to Firestar’s aid, the newly reunited SkyClan is thriving. Their leader, Leafstar, is desperate to believe that they will survive where the ancient SkyClan cats failed. But as threats continue to plague the Clan and dissent grows from within, Leafstar must face the one question she dreads most: Is SkyClan meant to survive?

Ever since Dusty's mom died, life has been rough. Dusty's dad is remote and angry, and a car accident has permanently injured Dusty's back. No matter how much support her classmates in high school offer, nothing can bring back the happy family life she remembers.