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Turns a critical eye on Aesop's Fables to ask whether there is any scientific truth to Aesop's portrayal of his animals.Despite originating more than two-and-a-half thousand years ago,
Aesop's Fables are still passed on from parent to child, and are embedded in our collective consciousness. The morals we have learned from these tales continue to inform our judgements, but have the stories also informed how we regard their animal protagonists? If so, is there any truth behind the stereotypes? Are wolves deceptive villains? Are crows insightful geniuses? And could a tortoise really beat a hare in a race?
In
Aesop's Animals, zoologist Jo Wimpenny turns a critical eye to the fables to discover whether there is any scientific truth to Aesop's portrayal of the animal kingdom. She brings the tales into the twenty-first century, introducing the latest findings on some of the most fascinating branches of ethological research - the study of why animals do the things they do. In each chapter she interrogates a classic fable and a different topic - future planning, tool use, self-recognition, cooperation and deception - concluding with a verdict on the veracity of each fable's portrayal from a scientific perspective.
By sifting fact from fiction in one of the most beloved texts of our culture,
Aesop's Animals explores and challenges our preconceived notions about animals, the way they behave, and the roles we both play in our shared world.
List of contents
Preface
1: The Crow and the Pitcher
2: The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
3: The Dog and its Shadow
4: The Ass Carrying the Image
5: The Fox and the Crow
6: The Lion and the Shepherd
7: The Monkey and the Fisherman
8: The Ants and the Grasshopper
9: The Hare and the Tortoise
Epilogue
Selected Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Index
About the author
Jo Wimpenny is a zoologist and writer, with a research background in animal behaviour and the history of science. She studied Zoology at the University of Bristol, and went on to research problem-solving in crows for her DPhil at Oxford University. After postdoctoral research on the history of ornithology at Sheffield, she co-authored the book Ten Thousand Birds: Ornithology Since Darwin with Tim Birkhead and Bob Montgomerie, which won the 2015 PROSE award for History of Science, Medicine and Technology.
Jo writes for BBC Wildlife and has previously presented at the BA Festival of Science, Science Oxford, the Royal Society Summer Science Fair and Glasgow Science Fair.
Summary
Turns a critical eye on Aesop's Fables to ask whether there is any scientific truth to Aesop's portrayal of his animals.
Despite originating more than two-and-a-half thousand years ago, Aesop's Fables are still passed on from parent to child, and are embedded in our collective consciousness. The morals we have learned from these tales continue to inform our judgements, but have the stories also informed how we regard their animal protagonists? If so, is there any truth behind the stereotypes? Are wolves deceptive villains? Are crows insightful geniuses? And could a tortoise really beat a hare in a race?
In Aesop's Animals, zoologist Jo Wimpenny turns a critical eye to the fables to discover whether there is any scientific truth to Aesop's portrayal of the animal kingdom. She brings the tales into the twenty-first century, introducing the latest findings on some of the most fascinating branches of ethological research - the study of why animals do the things they do. In each chapter she interrogates a classic fable and a different topic - future planning, tool use, self-recognition, cooperation and deception - concluding with a verdict on the veracity of each fable's portrayal from a scientific perspective.
By sifting fact from fiction in one of the most beloved texts of our culture, Aesop's Animals explores and challenges our preconceived notions about animals, the way they behave, and the roles we both play in our shared world.
Foreword
Turns a critical eye to Aesop's fables to ask whether there is any scientific truth behind these animal portrayals.
Additional text
Wimpenny pumps life into the hard science and keeps her discussions accessible, offering plenty of insight into how humans interpret the natural world.
