The Big, Bad Book of Beasts: The World's Most Curious Creatures

406 Pages·2013·12.36 MB·English

by  Michael Largo

Dedication
For those dedicated to preserving the diversity of life
Epigraph
Animals come into being in earth
and in liquid because there is water in earth,
and air in water, and in all air is vital heat
so that in a sense all things are full of soul.
—Aristotle, On the Generation of Animals, Book III, Part 11
Contents
Dedication
Epigraph
Introduction
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X Y Z
Acknowledgments
Sources
About the Author
Also by Michael Largo
Photo Credits
Copyright
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About the Publisher
INTRODUCTION
The first bestsellers were medieval encyclopedias called “bestiaries” that
described strange and fascinating facts and lore about animals, real and
imagined. Often gorgeously illustrated, they were less products of close
observation than works of imagination, myth, or the rare traveler’s tales of far-
off lands populated with seemingly fanciful creatures. Griffins and unicorns thus
were comfortably included alongside eagles and lions. Beasts were studied to see
what lessons they could teach us—about daring and sloth, loyalty and
cowardice, good and evil. Early naturalists and philosophers looked to animals
as a way to measure our differences, defining ourselves by similarities or by
observing the wide range of peculiarities found in nature. Then, as now, animals
spurred our imaginations, occupying our dreams and nightmares. Real and
mythical creatures were anthropomorphized, given human qualities as a means
of making points about mortality and ethics. Eventually, the study of animals
spurred serious scientific inquiry and helped establish an understanding of
biological laws and principles.
Attitudes toward animals changed throughout history, although we primarily
believed they were here for our usage, which has led to a great deal of
regrettable mistreatment and exploitation of our fellow creatures. The idea that
an animal is an individual, or a sanctioned being, was never universally popular.
However, everyone who cares for a pet knows that each animal has its own
personality. A dog is a dog, but all are different. The same for eagles or insects.
Are there introverted sponges or extroverted ants? Is there a mean-spirited
termite or a butterfly who is frightened of flying?
Without animals, there would be no human civilization. We would have been
among the multitude of trial-and-error species that came and went—gone in a
bleep of time—without them. They were our food and clothing. We imitated
how they hunted; animals, birds, and even insects showed us where to collect
fruits and grains and provided raw materials to make our shelters. Our first roads
were their migratory paths; they were the engines that built cities. But who are
they, these millions of creatures that live with us? Do they think the way we do?
How do they feel? How is it that they live and die? Did two-headed beasts
actually exist and what of the myriad species that were here and are now gone?
What clues can we learn from the myths from which they sprang or of their
fossilized bones?
We try to imagine how animals see the world, but even our pets are
mysterious to us. However, understanding the way their eyes work or their sense
of smell, for example, helps us to appreciate them even more and adds a measure
of empathy, if nothing else. Appreciating the vastness of these individual lives,
from the smallest microbe to the greatest whale, makes us more human.
Shamans of old looked for the spirit of an animal, believing all creatures had
special powers. Each animal was either an instructor or a link to an ancestor that
would speak through it and reveal an unknown universal language. In this book,
I hope to return to that momentary wonder we had as children. I remember when
I first learned of a giraffe’s preposterously long neck, or heard the incredible roar
of a lion, or observed the organized and ever busy trail of ants—I was amazed by
the wonderful strangeness of things. I also look at the beasts we created with our
imaginations and the ones long gone. How incredible to think of the very first
birds that learned to fly, or what it was to exist as a 10-ton dinosaur. Mythical
creatures that breathed fire or burned themselves to become immortal are
intensely compelling. Did they truly live? In our need to understand, and with
our creative resourcefulness, they did—and who really knows that they didn’t.
Science and technology have proved that what was once thought impossible
can, in fact, become probable. Nothing is constant, as many things in science are
discovered, refuted, and reevaluated again and again. Who knows what it is that
makes us essentially human and at the same time so similar to animals. What
separates us from creatures and beasts—real, mythical, and extinct—might be
only the trace of a tail line left in the sand. As philosopher Herbert Spencer said,
in a variation on a William Paley quotation, “There is a principle which is a bar
against all information, which cannot fail to keep a man in everlasting ignorance
—that principle is contempt prior to investigation.”