(Ebook) Humanimal: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature—A New Evolutionary History by Adam Rutherford ISBN 9781615195312, 1615195319

(Ebook) Humanimal: How Homo sapiens Became Nature’s Most Paradoxical Creature—A New Evolutionary History by Adam Rutherford ISBN 9781615195312, 1615195319

The bestselling author ofA Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Livedinvestigates what it means to be human—and animal
Publisher’s note: Humanimalwas published in the UK under the titleThe Book of Humans.
Evolutionary theory has long established that humans are animals: ModernHomo sapiensare primates who share an ancestor with monkeys and other great apes. Our genome is 98 percent identical to a chimpanzee’s. And yet we think of ourselves as exceptional.Are we?
In this original and entertaining tour of life on Earth, Adam Rutherford explores the profound paradox of the “human animal.” Looking for answers across the animal kingdom, he finds that many things once considered exclusively human are not: In Australia, raptors have been observed starting fires to scatter prey; in Zambia, a chimp named Julie even started a “fashion” of wearing grass in one ear. We aren’t the only species that communicates, makes tools, or has sex for reasons other than procreation. But wehavedeveloped a culture far more complex than any other we’ve observed. Why has that happened, and what does it say about us?
Humanimalis a new evolutionary history—a synthesis of the latest research on genetics, sex, migration, and much more. It reveals what unequivocally makes us animals—and also why wearetruly extraordinary.