From the book

CONTENTSAuthors' Note ix

ONE

Dr. House, Meet Doctor Dolittle 3
Redefining the Boundaries of Medicine

TWO

The Feint of Heart 19
Why We Pass Out

THREE

Jews, Jaguars, and Jurassic Cancer 31
New Hope for an Ancient Diagnosis

FOUR

Roar-gasm 55
An Animal Guide to Human Sexuality

FIVE
Zoophoria 87
Getting High and Getting Clean

SIX
Scared to Death 109
Heart Attacks in the Wild

SEVEN
Fat Planet 132
Why Animals Get Fat and How They Get Thin

EIGHT

Grooming Gone Wild 159
Pain, Pleasure, and the Origins of Self-Injury

NINE
Fear of Feeding 176
Eating Disorders in the Animal Kingdom

TEN
The Koala and the Clap 194
The Hidden Power of Infection

ELEVEN

Leaving the Nest 212
Animal Adolescence and the Risky Business of Growing Up

TWELVE

Zoobiquity 234

Acknowledgments 245
Notes 249
Index 293

CHAPTER ONE

Dr. House, Meet Doctor Dolittle
Redefining the Boundaries of Medicine

In the spring of 2005, the chief veterinarian of the Los Angeles Zoo called me, an urgent edge to his voice.

"Uh, listen, Barbara? We've got an emperor tamarin in heart failure. Any chance you could come out today?"

I reached for my car keys. For thirteen years I'd been a cardiologist treating members of my own species at the UCLA Medical Center. From time to time, however, the zoo veterinarians asked me to weigh in on some of their more difficult animal cases. Because UCLA is a leading heart-transplant hospital, I'd had a front-row view of every type of human heart failure. But heart failure in a tamarin--a tiny, nonhuman primate? That I'd never seen. I threw my bag in the car and headed for the lush, 113-acre zoo nestled along the eastern edge of Griffith Park.

Into the tiled exam room the veterinary assistant carried a small bundle wrapped in a pink blanket.

"This is Spitzbuben," she said, lowering the animal gently into a Plexiglas-fronted examination box. My own heart did a little flip. Emperor tamarins are, in a word, adorable. About the size of kittens, these monkeys evolved in the treetops of the Central and South American rain forests. Their wispy, white Fu Manchu--style mustaches droop below enormous brown eyes. Swaddled in the pink blanket, staring up at me with that liquid gaze, Spitzbuben was pushing every maternal button I had.

When I'm with a human patient who seems anxious, especially a child, I crouch close and open my eyes wide. Over the years I've seen how this can establish a trust bond and put a nervous patient at ease. I did this with Spitzbuben. I wanted this defenseless little animal to understand how much I felt her vulnerability, how hard I would work to help her. I moved my face up to the box and stared...

Author: Barbara Natterson-Horowitz
Bio:  

Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, M.D., earned her degrees at Harvard and the University of California, San Francisco. She is a cardiology professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and serves on the medical advisory board of the Los Angeles. Zoo as a cardiovascular consultant. Her writing has appeared in many scientific and medical publications.

Kathryn Bowers was a staff editor at The Atlantic and a writer and producer at CNN International. She has edited and written popular and academic books and teaches a course at UCLA on medical narrative.

Author: Kathryn Bowers
Bio:  

Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, M.D., earned her degrees at Harvard and the University of California, San Francisco. She is a cardiology professor at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and serves on the medical advisory board of the Los Angeles. Zoo as a cardiovascular consultant. Her writing has appeared in many scientific and medical publications.

Kathryn Bowers was a staff editor at The Atlantic and a writer and producer at CNN International. She has edited and written popular and academic books and teaches a course at UCLA on medical narrative.

"Zoobiquity is full of fascinating stories of intersection between human and nonhuman medicine -- fish that faint; dinosaur cancers; human treatments that cure dogs of melanoma; lessons from adolescent elephant behavior that explain human teenagers. I was beguiled." - Atul Gawande, M.D.

"Centered on an insight rich with consequences, this beautifully written book is loaded with fascinating material that makes a compelling case for viewing human health and disease comparatively. We have more to learn from other species than I had ever suspected. Gripping and memorably engaging, it belongs in the hands of anyone with an ounce of curiosity about the biological sources of the human condition."--Stephen Stearns, PhD., Edward P. Bass Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Yale University "Fascinating reading about the similarities in both the physiology and behavior of people and animals." - Temple Grandin, Ph.D.

"astute and funny... revelatory...Zoobiquity is as clarion and perception-altering as works by Oliver Sacks, Michael Pollan, and E. O. Wilson." - Booklist

"The book features countless intriguing anecdotes of cross-species health problems...after finishing, you're guaranteed to never look at your dog, cat, or any other animal the same way again." - Publisher's Weekly

"A groundbreaker written for the lay reader." - Library Journal, 12/12/11

"Engaging and accessible...This book not only speaks to the medical zeitgeist, it is also often profound. It will appeal to readers of Temple Grandin, Oliver Sacks, Neil Shubin, E.O. Wilson, Atul Gawande, and others writing about medicine and health. Highly recommended." - Library Journal, 8/17/12

"Like the best narrative nonfiction, this book will appeal to a wide range of readers...But this book is more than popular science; by combining human and veterinary medicine, the authors seek to change our view of the human place in the animal kingdom, and, with it, the way we treat illness, regardless of the species of the sufferer...vivid and illuminating." - Politics & Prose

"a very credible argument for collaboration between disciplines...entertaining and beautifully written." - New York Journal of Books

"you will find the argument hard to resist. Plus you will have some killer dinner party gems. Who could resist the story of lemurs with erectile dysfunction, or the iguanas that ejaculate prematurely?" - New Scientist

"the authors provide solid evidence that humans are not as far removed from the rest of the natural world as we might have thought. Engaging, useful account of the similarities between humans and other animals." - Kirkus Review

"Zoobiquity reinforces the interconnectedness of life on Earth...In another words, we're all in this together." - The Globe and Mail

"Illuminating...This very engaging book is difficult to put down. It provides lots of information in an easy-to-understand manner that doesn't feel overwhelming, perhaps because of the liberal use of humor throughout. Reading Zoobiquity gave this reader a totally new perspective on his furred and feathered neighbors." - The Boston Globe

"Groundbreaking...essential...truly innovative...the concepts in Zoobiquity are presented so clearly and documented so extensively that they appear to have struck a chord in both the general population and the medical community." - Yale Human Animal Medicine Project

"A truly fascinating look at the similarities between us and other animals...engrossing and enlightening reading." - The Bark