How the zebra got its stripes : Darwinian stories told through evolutionary biology / Lâeo Grasset ; [translation by Barbara Mellor].

Coup de la girafe. English

First Pegasus books hardcover edition.

9781681774145 (hardcover)
1681774143 (hardcover)
9781681777559 (paperback)
168177755X (paperback)

New York ; London : Pegasus Books, May 2017.

English

Translated from the French.

154 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color), maps ; 22 cm

QL336 .G73 2017

591.748096

"A bright young scientist explains the intricacies of the animal kingdom through the lens of evolutionary biology. Why do giraffes have such long necks? Why are zebras striped? Why does a gazelle evade a hungry cheetah by leaping and bounding along a random path? Deploying the latest scientific research and his own extensive observations in Africa, Lâeo Grasset offers answers to these questions and many more in a book of post-Darwinian Just So Stories (the classic tales by Rudyard Kipling that offered fanciful accounts of how the features of assorted fauna came to be). Complex natural phenomena are explained in simple and at times comic terms, as Grasset turns evolutionary biology to the burning questions of the animal kingdom, from why elephants prefer dictators and buffaloes democracies, to whether the lion really is king. The human is, of course, just another animal, and the author's exploration of two million years of human evolution illustrates how it not only informs our current habits and behavior, but also reveals that we are hybrids of several different species. Prepare to be fascinated, shocked, and delighted--as well as reliably advised. By the end, you will know, for example, to never hug the beautiful, cuddly honey badger, and what explains its almost psychotic nastiness. This is serious science at its entertaining best"--Jacket.

Translation of: Le coup de la girafe : des savants dans la savane.
Originally published in French: Paris : âEd. du Seuil, 2015.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 125-143) and index.

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