Animalkind: Remarkable Discoveries about Animals and Revolutionary New Ways to Show Them Compassion

The founder and president of PETA, Ingrid Newkirk, and bestselling author Gene Stone explore the wonders of animal life and offer tools for living more kindly toward them.

In the last few decades, a wealth of new information has emerged about who animals are--intelligent, aware, and empathetic. Studies show that animals are astounding living beings with emotions, intricate communications networks, and myriad abilities. In Animalkind, PETA founder Ingrid Newkirk and bestselling author Gene Stone present these findings in a concise, cohesive, reader-friendly way, detailing a range of surprising discoveries: that geese fall in love and stay with a partner for life, that mice "sing" underwater, and that elephants grieve and mourn, even visiting from long distances after a relative has died.

Newkirk and Stone pair their tour of the astounding lives of animals with a guide to the exciting new tools that allow humans to avoid using or abusing animals as we once did. The second half of the book shows readers what they can do in their everyday lives to ensure that the animal world is protected from needless harm. Whether it's medicine, product testing, entertainment, clothing, or food, there are now better options to all the uses animals once served in human life. We can substitute faux fleece for real wool, choose plant-based foods instead of meat and cheese, reap the benefits of medical research that no longer requires monkeys caged in laboratories, and scrap captive orca exhibits and elephant rides for virtual reality and animatronics.

Animalkind is a fascinating study of why our fellow living beings deserve our respect, and moreover, the steps every reader can take to put this new understanding into action.