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The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure
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The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure Hardcover - 2011 - 1st Edition

by Jonathan Peter Balcombe

In more than 100 striking images, "The Exultant Ark" celebrates the full range of animal experience with dramatic portraits of animal pleasure ranging from the charismatic and familiar to the obscure and bizarre. Biologist Jonathan Balcombe interprets them within the scientific context of what is known about animal behavior.


From the publisher

Nature documentaries often depict animal life as a grim struggle for survival, but this visually stunning book opens our eyes to a different, more scientifically up-to-date way of looking at the animal kingdom. In more than one hundred thirty striking images, The Exultant Ark celebrates the full range of animal experience with dramatic portraits of animal pleasure ranging from the charismatic and familiar to the obscure and bizarre. These photographs, windows onto the inner lives of pleasure seekers, show two polar bears engaged in a bout of wrestling, hoary marmots taking time for a friendly chase, Japanese macaques enjoying a soak in a hot spring, a young bull elk sticking out his tongue to catch snowflakes, and many other rewarding moments. Biologist and best-selling author Jonathan Balcombe is our guide, interpreting the images within the scientific context of what is known about animal behavior. In the end, old attitudes fall away as we gain a heightened sense of animal individuality and of the pleasures that make life worth living for all sentient beings.

From the rear cover

"It is rare to find a scientist writing with such delight about, of all things, joy in the animal world! I have rarely experienced such pleasure in reading a book. I recommend it to all animal lovers, and even challenge a few skeptics, whose minds may be changed by this extraordinary work."--Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author of When Elephants Weep

"The Exultant Ark brilliantly and definitively demonstrates what pet owners have always known but what certain scientists still question, that animals think, feel, and have emotions, often pleasurable ones. It's a must-read for anyone with even the slightest interest in the truths of the natural world. I couldn't put it down!"--Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of The Hidden Life of Deer and The Hidden Life of Dogs

"There is no question that the whales experience pleasure when they sing, that the wolf enjoys howling at the moon, that lion cubs enjoy wrestling with each other. I love books like this, that challenge the rigidity of human prejudices, that open our minds to other realities and revolutionary perspectives, that question both our collective ignorance and our arrogance as humans."--Captain Paul Watson, Founder and President, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

"The Exultant Ark bubbles over with joy. Its important words and moving photographs offer powerful proof of what we knew was true all along: the pleasure of animals is vividly real and matters deeply--both to the animals who experience it, and to we humans who are privileged to share their happiness. Rejoice!"--Sy Montgomery, author of The Good Good Pig and Birdology

Details

  • Title The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure
  • Author Jonathan Peter Balcombe
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Edition number 1st
  • Edition 1
  • Pages 224
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher University of California Press, California
  • Date 2011-05
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Bibliography, Illustrated, Index
  • ISBN 9780520260245 / 0520260244
  • Weight 2.73 lbs (1.24 kg)
  • Dimensions 10.27 x 8.75 x 0.93 in (26.09 x 22.23 x 2.36 cm)
  • Library of Congress subjects Animal behavior, Pleasure
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2010043747
  • Dewey Decimal Code 591.502

Media reviews

Citations

  • Shelf Awareness, 12/02/2011, Page 0

About the author

Jonathan Balcombe is Department Chair for Animal Studies with Humane Society University. His books include Second Nature: The Inner Lives of Animals and Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good. Dr. Balcombe is also a popular environmental conference and keynote speaker.
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The Exultant Ark : A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure

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The Exultant Ark: A Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure

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