Something I struggle with when reading accessible science books is occasionally getting frustrated that a concept has been simplified so greatly that you lose track of it entirely. I get that it’s a really hard balance to strike, but I think the best examples of how to do it well are The Gene: An Intimate History by Siddhartha Mukherjee and Zoobiquity. Both strike a great balance between accuracy, accessibility, and entertainment. I can tell because when I read these books, I’m not annoyed. Instead, I just feel incredibly flattered because I know the information put in front of me, and who doesn’t like to feel smart every once in a while?
Not to mention, both of these books put a lot of effort into setting the scene for their points. Neither author just spills out their facts in a controlled but lack-luster manner. Rather, there’s some literary build up, some personal anecdotes, or a healthy dose of humor to keep their readers engaged in the material. It’s sort of like a teacher intentionally using multiple Expo marker colors to make sure the kids in their AP Bio class are paying attention.
The exact whiteboard vibes I was aiming for
At the end of the day though, a lot of the smaller details in this book were new facts to me, like ladybugs getting STDs (wtf), daylight affecting eating disorders (relating a lot to Seasonal Affective Disorder, if you ask me), or rowdy zebra finches tempting fate by sitting on a human’s finger. That means that even for a college student studying pre-med, anthropology, and biology, there’s valuable and interesting information to get out of the book. Not to mention, as a pre-med student, I was really taught the value of inter-species study/medicine to better understand human conditions (which is something I really don’t expect to be covered in med school). So now, I get to walk around spilling even more random facts to people who never asked for them- WHOOP WHOOP!
A good portion of Zoobiquity cover a myriad of conditions due to emotional strain or mental health- anywhere from self-harm to heart problems from stress to eating disorders to fainting… and boy is there some good stuff in there.
First, as someone who is prone to fainting, I very much appreciated the second chapter. Essentially, although fainting is usually indicative of a weak stomach or cowardice in pop culture, it’s most likely that fainting occurs as a successful protection mechanism. For example, since sharks can detect a heartbeat, having a slower heart rate could protect a fish. Also, ducks are known to pass out when being hunted by a fox or wolf. Dr. NH proposes that humans understand fainting less than they should because we think of ourselves as the predator, not the prey because, well, we’re egotistical. But in reality, fainting is basically evolution helping you be really good at hide-and-seek (think of those goats that always pass out).
The next related topic basically says that you can die of a broken (or freaked out) heart. As we all can attest, our heart-rate can greatly speed or slow depending on if you’re scared or sad… but it turns out it can be a lot worse. Being stressed more regularly or after a particularly traumatic event can cause sudden cardiac death- or capture myopathy- in humans and animals. For humans, it could be 9/11 or a stressful home situation. For animals, it could be predators or being relocated by people. The main take away is: next time someone harasses you for needing some R&R, tell them to politely back the hell off.
On a really somber note, it turns out animals self-harm too. Dr. NH and Bowers connect the behavior to taking healthy grooming practices a little too far. Although grooming itself is good for social and non-social animals (and yes, I’m including humans in “animals”), the opiates and happy chemicals released in our brains can fool us into picking at our bodies a little too much- turns out me trying to pop my pimples has the same root cause as my dog licking the cut his foot too much. Though this is one of the ideas backed up a little bit less by strict science, Dr. NH proposes this view as a way to help treat both human and non-human animals.
Here’s another example of a self-harming animal
If anyone was feeling self conscious about *performance* in the bedroom, turns out it’s actually a common thing (as weird as that may sound). As successful as evolution has been creating a sex positive world for us all to be a part of, anxiety and stress can negatively impact mating abilities for multiple animals. Some lemurs can’t get it up because they’re too nervous, and female bustard birds are less likely to even have successful eggs if they aren’t “primed” with an image of a striking male bird. Not to mention, many sexual human and animal behaviors are similar to acts individuals find repulsive- but our man Dr. NH reminds us all that the line is thin. So, all that said, know your anxieties aren’t going to be the end of you, always make sure your partner is turned on, and don’t let anyone kink shame you.
Lastly in this giant chunk of emotional trauma has to do with eating disorders and (surprise, surprise) the connection they have to the animal kingdom. It turns out that animals will control what and when they eat based on their current fears, such as elk who are always on the look out for hungry wolves. In animals, there seems to be a linkage of anxiety, anorexia, and low body mass between multiple species. Dr. NH points out in this chapter that maybe it’s time to use this data to help our own victims of eating disorders.
All-in-all, these portions of the book thoroughly cover an area of science and health that is still widely overlooked and not understood. And honestly, there are some pretty baller paragraphs to set the scene for the reader in the wilderness.
a wolf that is beautiful in this photo but probably pretty terrifying to see chasing you
On another episode of “wow this is a surprising but not entirely shocking fact” from this book is: animals can fall prey to the deadly sins! Essentially, animals can get STDs, become addicted to drugs, become obese, and rebel as youths- and for reasons that aren’t their faults.
In the STD camp (one that is definitely not recommended) you might find ladybugs with mites, koalas with chlamydia, or Dungeness crabs with worms. Even though animals can’t wear condoms, they still have methods of protection… which is mainly they don’t mess with junk that looks diseased. Though this is generally *quite scandalous* the main takeaway from this section is that some of these animals are STD free in populations that are absolutely saturated with transmitted diseases, which could help doctors and vets identify certain traits that may assist immunity.
Now for the drug content! In my opinion, the main takeaway for me was almost a destigmatization of drug addictions. Dr. NH and Bowers mention water buffalo in Asia that can’t get enough of poppies on the sides of the river. Dolphins intentionally get pricked by poisonous fish to get a high. And, just like in people, animals are more likely to become addicted to a drug the earlier they encounter it, and can also be “passed down.”
Thanks to Zoobiquity, it’s going to be a bit more difficult for people to fat-shame healthy strangers on the internet- what a shame…. Turns out that an individual’s gut microbiome (the bacteria that live in your gut) can influence how your body extracts calories. Though this might be a correlation versus causation debate right now, human and microbiome dynamics have a correlation to obesity. There’s a lot of research going into what may predispose a human or animal to this, but the bottom line is that no one can say it’s purely because of MacDonald’s or because people don’t work out enough- ignore those ignorant bastards 🙂 .
Time for some always-needed body positivity
To wrap up this bit is a healthy dose of teen rebellion. Essentially, young animals like gazelles and sea otters venture disproportionately out into dangerous situations to test their limits. Fewer of them make it back than adults that try the same thing, but the ones who survive make it longer- it’s a classic example of survival of the fittest. It correlates to the higher rate of traffic accidents in teens and reckless injuries. Unfortunately, these rebellions also relate to pressurized social hierarchies… ie animals get bullied too.
There are so many things we like to think are purely human, but in reality they’re so connected to the rest of our world- even our supposed “sins.”
The last portion of this book I want to cover has to do with cancer and DNA… not exactly the kind of *fun* note you want to end on, but hey it’s important.
An example of a tumor on a dinosaur bone
One of the “grabbing” points on the back of this book is that even dinosaurs got cancer, and today that disease is still a primary hitman for mother nature. Although evolution has evolved to accommodate greater variation (thanks to 2n DNA strands and more sexual reproduction rather than asexual), it’s still a huge problem, that can even be in higher proportion in certain groups. A very common example of this is the higher rate of breast cancer in Ashkenazi Jew women. However, even more than any of the parts of this book, Dr. NH emphasizes that collaboration between vets and animals is already benefitting patients. In fact, in 2009 a team of vets and human doctors successfully created a vaccine for malignant melanoma for doggos based off of healthy human cells!! And yet, according to some of Dr. NH’s friends, leading oncologists never consider cancers in the *natural world* when treating their own human patients.
In almost all of these chapters, it’s incredibly clear that doctors, patients, vets, and animals could all be benefitting from some sort of collaboration, either with money, ideas, or actual treatments. Our society focuses on cancer a lot- rightfully so. Don’t we owe it to every patient to give them their best fighting chance, biases aside?
At college, I have my own research project that works on the microbiome in macaque monkeys. I personally look at how human influence over diet items can affect the microbiome dynamics of the macaques at different locations. I’ve been working on this for over a year now, so I’m pretty familiar with the microbiome, its metrics, and the focuses…. So I damn near flipped out when this book had a section almost entirely on the microbiome. Granted, it’s a slightly different version and the microbiome isn’t my favorite thing in the world, but Dr. NH and Bowers included a field of study that almost entirely hinges on connecting animals to humans.
While human microbiome research is very well funded (because people like to know about people), microbiome research for other animals or other systems does not get the same consideration. And, microbiology as a field does not have the most stable metrics, so research labs really have to get their stats and significance DOWN. In order to do that, almost everyone links their research to possible human benefits. So yeah, it’s very accurate that this field in particular relies on this inter-species collaboration, and I felt really in-the-know to read about a topic I’m literally contributing to.
That said, the one instance that I knew there was slightly incorrect information in this book was in this section on Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. Dr. NH says that those are the two dominant groups in the gut microbiome, but that’s not entirely true. In reality, those two groups are in high abundance, but their dominance can fluctuate across species and across ages. Instead, their most valuable asset these phyla offer is the ratio between them (which is alluded to). Still, the value of the F/B Ratio as it’s called is still debated, although it is widely used in research.
Hollocher Lab logo, Notre Dame
(PS the contribution thing was particularly strong when Dr. NH brought up manipulated food items being the main reason for weird human microbiomes made me very happy because it was basically the human version of my own research.)
In case none of my other posts are clear, I really enjoyed this book. I think it had such great content, well-utilized personal stories, accurate information, and good underlying intentions throughout. I only have a singular complaint to put in the complaint box…
The one thing I wish Zoobiquity talked a bit more about was the intersection of physical health. Yes, heart troubles, cancer, and fainting were all examples of connected physical ailments, but I was really hoping for a bit of evolutionary anatomy. One of my favorite things of all time is the progression of rear jaw bones into ear bones over millions of years as jaw flexibility wasn’t as necessary (thanks, Neil Shubin!). I’m a huge sucker for those kinds of facts and although I obviously enjoyed the more obscure *connections between human and animal health*, I would’ve loved a quick bit on how physical structures of human/animal bodies are connected (just to immediately school the nay-sayers).
A nice visual of the ear bone structures that developed out of what was essentially jaw joints
