Nature calls

Book review of Every Creature Has a Story: What Science Reveals about Animal Behaviour

Ants that have discovered the fountain of youth, transsexual bearded dragons, sticklebacks that can hold their urine for the duration of their breeding season and humpback whales that display altruistic behaviour — at first glance, wildlife writer, film-maker and conservationist Janaki Lenin’s Every Creature has a Story is a delightful dive into the magical diversity of the animal kingdom. A compendium of 50 essays published in Ms Lenin’s column in The Wire,  the book offers intriguing snapshots of weird animals and their weirder behaviour. Consisting of all-too-short chapters, the reader is left engaged, enthralled but often asking for more. Every essay takes off from scientific studies of animal behaviour, bringing to the lay reader a sense of the scientific exactitude of zoology with all the adventure of a safari.   

Ms Lenin has an easy, breezy writing style that evokes the magic and astonishing depth of the natural world that surrounds us. As someone who “hated science in school”, the author believes that if someone had taken the trouble to explain the subject like a story, she would have been in science today, or even research. Which is why her essays often wear the guise of stories that present delectable morsels of information about animals, familiar and unfamiliar. Here are some examples: Did you know that the simple act of bending down to drink water is life-threatening for giraffes? Their heart increases blood pressure in order to pump blood up to the brain due to their long necks. Female nightingales pick mates for child-rearing by literally holding auditions for them — the best singers among the males are considered the best potential fathers. 

Some of the behaviour that Ms Lenin details has connotations for the study of humanity and the evolution of human societies. For example, in order to survive in an often hostile environment, every individual in a pack of African wild dogs has to commit to conform to the group. If one sleeps, they all sleep. They even vote when to go hunting! Similarly, chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys use tools and rats are compassionate …

These connections, unfortunately, are not always fleshed out in the book. In the essay “Plants with Private Armies” Ms Lenin beautifully explains how plants, despite being rooted, have several tricks up their metaphorical sleeves to combat pest onslaughts. When besieged by slugs and other insect predators, some plant species actually recruit private armies of ants to defend themselves. This research must have implications for agriculture, specifically for understanding why hybrid species seem more prone to disease outbreaks than other endemic ones. However, the essay is so brief that it fails to capitalise on its own undoubted strengths. 
 

Every Creature Has a Story: What Science Reveals about Animal Behaviour
Author: Janaki Lenin
Publisher: HarperCollins Pages: 279
Price: Rs 599

Another essay, “Making Peace with Wolves”, tells us how geladas (baboon-like primates found in Ethiopia) deliberately hang out with Ethiopian wolves (the most endangered canid in the world) even though they are potential predators. Scientists believe that the wolves deliberately eschew bigger prey (geladas) for smaller tidbits that the geladas might uncover for them. In turn the geladas tolerate the wolves because perhaps the cost of constantly repelling them is too high. Sadly, readers are left to draw their own conclusions about this fascinating behaviour. Another essay that bears mention in this context is the one on the insanely kinky sex lives of Darwin’s bark spiders. Ms Lenin describes in detail how these creatures engage in bondage, oral sex  and  cannibalism but yet again, the essay leaves readers wondering about the context in which all this can be best understood. 

That said, the essays conjure up some delightful images even as they demonstrate how different species are wired for survival. Readers will learn about frigate birds that sleep with one cautious eye open while cruising on thermals over the sea, glass frog mums that show their maternal devotion by peeing on their eggs, female dragonflies that feign death (instead of headaches) to avoid sex and great tit couples who would rather go hungry than eat without their mate. 

In the fine tradition of great naturalist authors James Herriot and Gerald Durrell, Ms Lenin also successfully manages to beguile readers with quirky animal stories. This is no mean feat, given that unlike them, she has not actually studied most of these species in the field herself. Instead, she has based most of her writings on previously published research (in fact, she has appended a long list of references at the end of the book). A special mention must be made of its beautiful cover which would undoubtedly make the book stand out on any bookshelf. 

Every Animal Has a Story  showcases not just animals (and plants) but also Ms Lenin’s unique gift of rendering scientific information and research intelligible for lay readers. This is why lay animal lovers as well as experts would enjoy this book.  The brevity of the featured essays, however, is a double-edged sword, keeping the reader engaged but perhaps restricting the space to flesh out details that might have provided better context and connection.