From Publishers Weekly
Why do wolves make better dads than dogs, and what can they teach us about our own fathers and sons? Following up on his earlier bestsellers (When Elephants Weep; Dogs Never Lie About Love), Masson investigates the varied, sometimes inspiring roles of male parents across the animal kingdom, summarizing published research on (among others) penguins, lions, bears, prairie dogs, orcas, gray whales, frogs and sheep. Most of the book consists of such natural histories, many of them memorable. Male emperor penguins may huddle together for warmth through the bulk of the Antarctic winter, unable to eat, each balancing a single egg on its feet to prevent it from freezing on the ice. Tiny marmoset dads carry their children all day while their mothers forage for food. Like Diane Ackerman, Masson writes natural history in the tradition of a humanist, not a working scientist. Though he invokes such trailblazing ethologists (animal behavior experts) as Niko Tinbergen, Masson differs from most professionals in insisting, even assuming, that all animals have emotions comparable to humans: "is it not possible," he asks, "that even a fish can develop affection for another fish... ?" Wise readers will bypass such insistences, or treat the wildest as metaphors, and then absorb the well-told array of stories about (mostly) admirable animals. Scientifically literate perusers may get distracted by minor mistakes ("neoteny" doesn't mean what Masson thinks it means; street pigeons aren't descended from passenger pigeons). But the same readers may enjoy watching Masson's evidence crush would-be sociobiologists' ideas of intrinsic, cross-species meanings of maleness. If penguins, wolves and pairs of male black swans routinely make involved and coequal fathers, deadbeat dads seem to have little excuse to blame their genes. Agent, Elaine Markson. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
"There is a popular belief that males are at best uninvolved fathers . . . "notes Masson in his introduction to this exploration of the role that father animals play in the lives of their offspring. Not surprisingly, he found male care that ran the gamut from actively hostile (male bears will kill cubs), to indifferent (male elephants only associate with females for mating), to sharing (marmoset males are equal partners in child rearing), to sole parenthood (rhea fathers incubate the eggs and rear chicks alone). As the author of
When Elephants Weep (1995), Masson is also interested in the emotional side of male parenting and how this affects the relationship between the animal father (or mother) and his young. Extensive bibliographic notes reveal the scientific underpinnings of the author's conjectures about the male animals' emotions and fathering abilities. Fascinating speculations on the parallels between human fathers and their animal counterparts enliven the text, and anecdotes about the author's relationship with his three-year-old son add a personal touch.
Nancy Bent
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
