Written in language both chummy and intensely Euro-centric. Lots of great and new facts and ways of looking at certain animals and the myths thats surround them. It very much had thr feel of chatting with the writer at a cocktail party, or perhaps its the edgy tv series she's always wanted to produce. ( )

In this fascinating and fun book, each chapter focuses on an animal we humans have had misconceptions about, especially those we have historically either looked upon in scorn or regarded with disgust. Author Lucy Cooke is naturally witty and inserts just the right amount of humor into the text. Not only will you receive the gift of visualizing frogs in underpants, there are oodles of charming facts and "wow!" moments. My favorite, heart-warming passage reveals that sloths don't sleep most of their day, but instead spend the majority of their time "quietly hanging in the trees in a seemingly meditative state, motionless, with their eyes open and staring blankly into space" (would that we all could do so). ( )

This book reads like it was written by the love child of Charles Darwin and Mary Roach. There is humor, pathos, and animal facts aplenty. The author’s writing style is easy to read and captured my attention immediately. The love Cooke has for these beasties is quite obvious from the start. Hopefully, given the facts, others will learn to appreciate these maligned characters that occupy the animal world.

Each chapter is devoted (lovingly) to a misunderstood animal, where we find myths debunked through modern science. The reader will learn about sloths, bats, and hyenas, to name a few. The author will discuss how the animals were experimented on/studied over hundreds of years (Who knew that Aristotle was a proponent of spontaneous creation?) then get to modern times, where myths are debunked and the many reasons to love these animals are revealed.

Some of the experiments detailed can be a bit gory, such as when, in the 18th century, the Catholic priest Lazzaro Spallanzani practiced blinding bats in order to find out how they managed to find their way around in darkness. (He also coated them in varnish for another experiment, but I digress). Other tales are edifying and satisfying, such as:

It may sound suspiciously like bogus medieval folk medicine, but from the 1940s through the 1960s the world’s first reliable pregnancy test was a small, bug-eyed frog. When injected with a pregnant woman’s urine, the amphibian didn’t turn blue or display stripes, but it did squirt out eggs 8-12 hours later to confirm a positive result.

Cooke’s book is full of factoids like that one. How can you not love this book? You will learn, you will laugh, and you will be full of obscure information. That sounds like a winner to me. ( )

A lot of fun to read. A lot of interesting info about various animals, along with funny bits about how they have been misrepresented by naturalists in the past. ( )

Written with an irreverence tempered by passion, Cooke exposes the secrets of thirteen well known animals, drawing from historical sources, current research, and her own knowledge and experience.

Here are just a few of the unexpected truths I learned:

* Despite billions of dollars and the best of modern technology, we still are not certain how or where the Anguilla anguilla (Eel) reproduce.
* The sloth’s neck has more vertebrae than any other mammal’s, even the giraffe’s.
* Vultures have been used to detect gas leaks in pipelines
* To determine how bats are able to fly in the dark, Italian Catholic priest Lazzaro Spallanzani experimented by systematically removing their eyeballs, plugging their ears and noses, cutting off their tongues, and coating them in varnish.
* From the 1940s through to the 1960s the world’s first reliable pregnancy test came courtesy of a small, bug-eyed frog. When injected with a pregnant woman’s urine, the amphibian squirted out eggs eight to twelve hours later to confirm a positive result.
* Storks were exterminated in Britain because the church was offended by the ‘pagan’ belief that they played a part in bringing a couple a baby.
* Hippopotamuses secrete a substance that is acts as sunscreen, fly repellent and antiseptic.
* Pandas might look cute and harmless but the powerful muscles in the panda’s cheeks deliver a bite force almost equal to a lion’s.
* Adélie penguins exchange sex for pebbles from single males to shore up their nests.

And so much more! I’ve shared some of the tamer revelations here because, among other things, the sex lives of desperate male penguins are a little disturbing. This is definitely not a book for prudes, or anyone who prefers the Disney version of animals.

Witty, informative and utterly fascinating, The Unexpected Truths About Animals is an engrossing read. Highly recommended ( )