There’s nothing I like better than a good book. And if it’s a book about animal training or animal behavior, that’s all the better!
This holiday season, I’ve decided to share twelve animal books with you. Some of these will be practical, how-to training books, while others will be intriguing non-fiction stories about animal behavior, and a few will be books about the science of behavior analysis.
Over the next twelve days, I’ll post a short review each day for each book. In the review, I’ll tell you why I like the book and describe some of my favorite parts of the book. Then, as a holiday treat, each post will also have a giveaway for a copy of the book.
I hope you will enjoy these posts and that you’ll also share with me some titles of books that you plan to read this December or in 2019. I’m always on the look out for interesting books to read!
Book #1: Can foxes by tamed?
The first book in this series is going to be How to Tame a Fox, by Lee Alan Dugatkin and Lyudmila Trut. I read this book earlier this year and found it fascinating.
Let’s do a little thought experiment.
Imagine you could go back in time thousands of years ago before dogs were domesticated. Then, you could live until the present time and live in multiple places at the same time. You would get the privilege of watching early canines gradually evolve into today’s modern dogs.
What would these early dog-like creatures look like? How would they behave? How would their appearance and behavior gradually shift over time?
Scientists have pieced together a lot of information about how dogs evolved. Still, we can’t ever go back in time, and there’s a lot that we still don’t know.
However in the 1950s, two Russian biologists decided to try to recreate this process by domesticating Russian foxes. This began a decades-long project that resulted in foxes that were quite tame and also amazingly dog like.
I first heard about the Russian fox experiment while I was in college majoring in biology. However, I didn’t know very many details about the project until I read How to Tame a Fox. It’s quite an interesting book, and it gave me a lot to think about regarding domestication and also animal behavior in general.
After reading the book in January, I wrote a detailed review of the book on my blog. You can find my longer review of the book here. This is a fascinating book for anyone who is interested in dogs or who is interested in animal behavior. I hope you’ll check it out!
Enter to win a copy of this book
To enter the giveaway:
1) Leave a comment on this post to earn one entry.
2) Fill out the Raffelcopter box below.
3) You can also earn entries by being a member of the StaleCheerios email list and/or by telling a friend about this post!
Terms and Conditions
One lucky reader will win a new copy of this book.
Winner will be chosen at random.
This giveaway ends on Friday, Dec. 14, 2018 at 11:59pm Central Standard Time.
Winner will be notified via email on December 15.
If the winner does not respond by Dec 17, he/she will forfeit the prize.
Void where prohibited.
Entering the giveaway form means you agree to the terms listed above.
Take a moment to enter the rest of my holiday giveaways!
