Why geese don't get obese (and we do)

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B.K. Ridley

There are some wonderfully bizarre ideas in physics, and it seems a pity to keep them locked up in small boxes, available only to an esoteric coterie of key holders. Brian Ridley's book sets out to survey in simple, non-mathematical terms what physics has to say about the fundamental structure of the universe. He deals with all the basic concepts of modern physics: elementary particles, black holes, gravity, quantum theory, time, mass, relativity and energy; this new edition also includes coverage of more recently emerging ideas including strings, imaginary time and chaos. Ridley's clear and witty account gives an exciting introduction to the non-specialist while offering a fresh perspective to scientists themselves.

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Michael Largo

"A one-of-a-kind treasury of the most strange and fascinating knowledge and lore about animals. Largo tells us their most fascinating secrets and reveals fact after astonishing--and often hilarious--fact about their oddest behavior. Largo also looks at the beasts we created with our imaginations, as well as ones long gone"--

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Steve Jenkins

Through illustrations, infographics, facts, and figures, readers will see how big each animal is compared to humans, where it lives on the globe, and just how putrid it can be!

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Nancy G. Solomon, Jeffrey A. French

Cooperative breeding refers to a social system in which individuals other than the parents provide care for the offspring. In addition to alloparental care, two further characteristics are common among species exhibiting cooperative breeding: delayed dispersal and delayed reproduction. Among vertebrates, cooperative breeding is expressed most prominently in birds and mammals. The book explores the phenomenon in a wide variety of mammals, including rodents, primates, viverrids, and carnivores. Comparative studies of cooperative breeding provide important tests for the origin and maintenance of sociality in complex groups. Understanding the behavioral and physiological mechanisms underlying cooperative breeding yields insights into the fundamental building blocks of social behavior in animal societies. . Although several recent volumes have summarized the state of our knowledge of the ecology and evolution of cooperative breeding in birds, Cooperative Breeding in Mammals is the first book devoted to these issues in mammals, and it will appeal to zoologists, ecologists, evolutionary biologists, and those interested in animal behavior.