Animal Science

Squeal! Guinea pigs make fun pets. Some have long hair and some have almost no hair at all. Some have crests on their heads and others have droopy ears. Young listeners will learn about the appearance and behavior of guinea pigs, and discover why these playful rodents make great pets.

Dip below the ocean’s surface and you are soon confronted by forms of life that could not seem more foreign to our own: sea sponges, soft corals, and serpulid worms, whose rooted bodies, intricate geometry, and flower-like appendages are more reminiscent of plant life or even architecture than anything recognizably animal. Yet these creatures are our cousins. As fellow members of the animal kingdom — the Metazoa— they can teach us much about the evolutionary origins of not only our bodies, but also our minds.

Does your dog get sad when you leave for the day? Does your cat purr because she loves you? Do bears attack when they’re angry? You can’t very well ask them. In fact, scientists haven’t been able to reach a consensus on whether animals even have emotions like humans do, let alone how to study them. Yet studies of animal emotion are critical for understanding human emotion and mental illness. In The Nature of the Beast, pioneering neuroscientist David J. Anderson describes a new approach to solving this problem.

As historian Mark Essig reveals in Lesser Beasts, swine have such a bad reputation for precisely the same reasons they are so valuable as a source of food: they are intelligent, self-sufficient, and omnivorous. What's more, he argues, we ignore our historic partnership with these astonishing animals at our peril.

Did you know that only around a quarter of the Sahara Desert is covered in sand? And did you know that cash machines in Vatican City have an option to read their instructions in Latin? Did you know tug-of-war and rope climbing used to be official Olympic sports? There is no denying that the world is super interesting, and these Super Interesting Facts for Smart Kids prove precisely that!

David R. Montgomery and Anne Bikle take us far beyond the well-worn adage to deliver a new truth: the roots of good health start on farms. What Your Food Ate marshals evidence from recent and forgotten science to illustrate how the health of the soil ripples through to that of crops, livestock, and ultimately us. Navigating discoveries and epiphanies about the world beneath our feet, they reveal why regenerative farming practices hold the key to healing sick soil and untapped potential for improving human health.

Thinking about raising chickens? You've come to the right place! This new edition of Raising Chickens for Dummies provides the most up-to-date, thorough information on the many aspects of keeping chickens in your backyard. You'll hear hands-on, easy-to-follow instructions on choosing and purchasing chickens, constructing housing for your birds, feeding your chickens for optimal health, combating laying issues, controlling pests and predators, optimizing egg production, and much more.

A small reptile scurries across a rock under the hot sun. It's a lizard! Learn more about these desert animals.

Bengal tigers silently stalk their prey. Learn all about these sneaky night hunters and their habitats in Bengal Tigers.

In this harrowing apocalyptic adventure—from the author of the critically acclaimed Sea of Rust—noted novelist and co-screenwriter of Marvel’s Doctor Strange C. Robert Cargill explores the fight for purpose and agency between humans and robots in a crumbling world. It was a day like any...

When we see a bird flying from branch to branch happily chirping, it is easy to imagine they lead a simple life of freedom, flight, and feathers. What we don't see is the arduous, life-threatening challenges they face at every moment. Beaks, Bones and Bird Songs guides the listener through the myriad, and often almost miraculous, things that birds do every day to merely stay alive. Like the goldfinch, which manages extreme weather changes by doubling the density of its plumage in winter.

What animal lives the longest? What animal has the biggest eyes? Listen to this book to find out!

Peek! A baby prairie dog looks out of its underground burrow. Beginning listeners will discover why burrows make good homes for growing baby rabbits, meerkats, and other adorable animals.

Cheep! Cheep! What is that sound? It’s a baby bird in a nest! Beginning listeners will discover why nests make good homes for growing baby birds, squirrels, and other animals.

The New York Times bestselling authors of The Genius of Dogs take us into their “Puppy Kindergarten” at Duke University, a center to study how puppies develop, to show us what goes in to raising a great dog. Don’t miss Brian Hare and Vanessa Woods in Netflix’s film Inside the Mind of a...

Triceratops means “three-horned face.” This massive dinosaur had a parrot-like hard beak and a bony frill around its head. Triceratops had a horn above each eye and another horn on its nose. These horns were used to protect it from other meat-eating dinosaurs.

Did the Earth become too cold for the dinosaurs? Maybe prehistoric mammals took the dinosaur eggs from the nests.

Stegosaurus means “roofed lizard.” This plant-eating dinosaur was about the size of a school bus and had two rows of bony plates along its back.

Hobbes: Unhuman Series, Books I-IV. It contains: I - Inspector Hobbes and the Blood, II - Inspector Hobbes and the Curse, III - Inspector Hobbes and the Gold Diggers, and IV - Inspector Hobbes and the Bones.

After unearthing Aunt Lavender's secret, we may finally know why she was abducted. Unfortunately, it also means the stakes are higher than ever. We're making headway, but we need help to navigate the elusive world of magical treasure hunting. So, when famed adventurer Tabitha Blake arrives in Winterspell, offering to help, I jump at the chance to work with her.