Animals Behaving Badly

There's a lot that animals don't want you to know, and the better their public image, the worse their secrets are: gang-rapist dolphins; lazy, infanticidal lions; and, of course, our own dogs, who eat our money, set our houses on fire, and in more than one case, actually shoot their owners with guns.

Animals Behaving Badly shows that animals are just like us: gluttonous, selfish, violent, lustful, and always looking out for number one. Using anecdotes from the news and from scientific research, Linda Lombardi pokes fun at our softhearted preconceptions about animals, makes us feel a little better about humanity's basest impulses, and painlessly teaches us a bit more about our furry and feathered friends.

You'll learn:

• Bees love alcohol: even, says one researcher, more than college students
• Pandas enjoy pornographic movies-they're particularly aroused by the soundtrack-and macaques will pay with juice to look at dirty pictures
• A rabbit who lives in a pub in England is addicted to gambling with a slot machine
• African elephants raised by teenage mothers form violent youth gangs

As a child growing up in the Bronx, Linda Lombardi liked to play with a basket full of plastic animals instead of human dolls. Later in life, she gave up a tenured position as a college professor to take a zookeeping job. Formerly the pets and animals columnist for the Associated Press and author of the mystery The Sloth's Eye, she has spent much of her life either slaving over animals or writing about how great they are. This book is her revenge.
Visit her website and the Animals Behaving Badly blog at www.lindalombardi.com