For centuries, people have been returning to the same tired nature-versus-nurture debate, trying to determine what we learn and what we inherit. In Dancing Cockatoos and the Dead Man Test, biologist Marlene Zuk goes beyond the binary and instead focuses on interaction, or the way that genes and environment work together. Driving her investigation is a simple but essential question: How does behavior evolve?

Drawing from a wealth of research, including her own on insects, Zuk answers this question by turning to a wide range of animals and animal behavior. There are stories of cockatoos that dance to rock music, ants that heal their injured companions, dogs that exhibit signs of obsessive-compulsive disorder, and so much more.

For insights into animal intelligence, mating behavior, and an organism's ability to fight disease, she explores the behavior of smart spiders, silent crickets, and crafty crows. In each example, she clearly demonstrates how these traits were produced by the complex and diverse interactions of genes and the environment and urges us to consider how that same process evolves behavior in us humans.

Filled with delightful anecdotes and fresh insights, Dancing Cockatoos and the Dead Man Test helps us see both other animals and ourselves more clearly, demonstrating that animal behavior can be remarkably similar to human behavior, and wonderfully complicated in its own right.

Author: Marlene Zuk
Binding Type: Hardcover
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Published: 08/09/2022
Pages: 352
Weight: 1.25lbs
Size: 8.80h x 6.30w x 1.30d
ISBN: 9781324007227


Review Citation(s):
Library Journal 06/01/2022 pg. 169
Publishers Weekly 07/04/2022
Kirkus Reviews 06/15/2022
Booklist 01/12/2024

About the Author
Zuk, Marlene: - Marlene Zuk is professor of ecology, evolution, and behavior at the University of Minnesota and studies sexual behavior and communication. The author of Paleofantasy and Sex on Six Legs, among other works, she lives in St. Paul.