Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife

Mary Roach meets Bill Bryson in this uproarious tour of the basest instincts and biggest mysteries of the animal world

Whether we're seeing a viral video of romping baby pandas or a picture of penguins "holding hands," it's hard for us to think of animals as anything but playful paragons of innocence and virtue. So you've probably never considered if moose get drunk, penguins cheat on their mates, or worker ants lay about. They do — and that's just for starters. In The Truth About Animals, Lucy Cooke embarks on a global adventure to meet everyone from a Colombian hippo castrator to a Chinese panda porn peddler, all to lay bare the secret — and often hilarious-habits of the animal kingdom. Charming and at times downright weird, this modern bestiary is perfect for anyone who has ever suspected that virtue might be unnatural.

"As surprising as it is diverse. Consummate natural history writing: illuminating, remarkable - and very, very funny." Alice Roberts, author of The Complete Human Body and The Incredible Unlikeliness of Being

"Endlessly fascinating." Bill Bryson, author of A Walk in the Woods, A Short History of Nearly Everything, and In a Sunburned Country

"In the end, the history of zoology reveals as much about our human foibles as about the animals we study. And this book will leave readers more enlightened about both." Science News

"Lucy Cooke takes equal delight in natural oddities and in people's long struggles to understand them. Part history, part biology, and wholly entertaining, The Truth About Animals is a quirky and edifying romp." Thor Hanson, author of Buzz, Feathers, and The Triumph of Seeds

"Lucy Cooke's [The Truth About Animals] was a joy from beginning to end. Who could resist a writer who argues that penguins have been pulling the wool over our eyes for years, and that, far from being cute and gregarious, they are actually pathologically unpleasant necrophiliacs?" The Guardian (UK)

Lucy Cooke is an award-winning filmmaker who has written, produced, and directed several popular documentary series for the BBC, PBS, Discovery, and National Geographic. Her first book, A Little Book of Sloth, was a New York Times bestseller. She has written for the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times, among others, and she holds an MA in zoology from the University of Oxford. She lives in London.