The Exultant Ark - by Jonathan Peter Balcombe (Hardcover)

About the Book

In more than 100 striking images, "The Exultant Ark" celebrates the full range of animal experience with dramatic portraits of animal pleasure ranging from the charismatic and familiar to the obscure and bizarre. Biologist Jonathan Balcombe interprets them within the scientific context of what is known about animal behavior.

Book Synopsis

Nature documentaries often depict animal life as a grim struggle for survival, but this visually stunning book opens our eyes to a different, more scientifically up-to-date way of looking at the animal kingdom. In more than one hundred thirty striking images, The Exultant Ark celebrates the full range of animal experience with dramatic portraits of animal pleasure ranging from the charismatic and familiar to the obscure and bizarre. These photographs, windows onto the inner lives of pleasure seekers, show two polar bears engaged in a bout of wrestling, hoary marmots taking time for a friendly chase, Japanese macaques enjoying a soak in a hot spring, a young bull elk sticking out his tongue to catch snowflakes, and many other rewarding moments. Biologist and best-selling author Jonathan Balcombe is our guide, interpreting the images within the scientific context of what is known about animal behavior. In the end, old attitudes fall away as we gain a heightened sense of animal individuality and of the pleasures that make life worth living for all sentient beings.

From the Back Cover

"It is rare to find a scientist writing with such delight about, of all things, joy in the animal world! I have rarely experienced such pleasure in reading a book. I recommend it to all animal lovers, and even challenge a few skeptics, whose minds may be changed by this extraordinary work."--Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, author of When Elephants Weep

"The Exultant Ark brilliantly and definitively demonstrates what pet owners have always known but what certain scientists still question, that animals think, feel, and have emotions, often pleasurable ones. It's a must-read for anyone with even the slightest interest in the truths of the natural world. I couldn't put it down!"--Elizabeth Marshall Thomas, author of The Hidden Life of Deer and The Hidden Life of Dogs

"There is no question that the whales experience pleasure when they sing, that the wolf enjoys howling at the moon, that lion cubs enjoy wrestling with each other. I love books like this, that challenge the rigidity of human prejudices, that open our minds to other realities and revolutionary perspectives, that question both our collective ignorance and our arrogance as humans."--Captain Paul Watson, Founder and President, Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

"The Exultant Ark bubbles over with joy. Its important words and moving photographs offer powerful proof of what we knew was true all along: the pleasure of animals is vividly real and matters deeply--both to the animals who experience it, and to we humans who are privileged to share their happiness. Rejoice!"--Sy Montgomery, author of The Good Good Pig and Birdology

Review Quotes

"Both the stunning photography and Balcombe's masterful prose are welcome additions to the growing literary and scientific evidence that debunk long-assumed myths while continuing to eliminate the gap between 'us' and 'them.'"-- "Veg News Mag" (9/1/2011 12:00:00 AM)

"All readers of this column must immediately purchase Jonathan Balcombe's fabulous book."--Leigh Dayton "The Australian" (10/22/2011 12:00:00 AM)

"An exuberant look at animal pleasure."--Katherine Bouton "New York Times" (7/18/2011 12:00:00 AM)

"An irresistible new photo book."--Maureen Callahan "New York Post" (7/24/2011 12:00:00 AM)

"Here is a book to put a spring into anyone's step. The Exultant Ark is a celebration of animal behaviour at its most uplifting."--Stuart Blackman "Bbc Wildlife Magazine" (6/1/2011 12:00:00 AM)

"Intersperses glorious images of animals preening, grooming and gallivanting with snippets of studies suggesting such behaviours belie an overly utilitarian interpretation."--Tiffany O'Callaghan "New Scientist" (5/7/2011 12:00:00 AM)

"One of those rare volumes that will look good on your coffee table but might also change the way you think."--Harold Herzog "American Journal Of Play" (2/20/2012 12:00:00 AM)

"The studies he [Balcombe] invokes are hard to explain away. . . . Likewise, the photographs that make up the bulk of The Exultant Ark remind us that we are not as different from other animals on our planet as we like to think; the photos are anecdotal in nature, but they are utterly compelling."--Scott F. Parker "Rain Taxi Review Of Books" (7/1/2011 12:00:00 AM)

"This is one of those rare volumes that will look good on your coffee table but might also change the way you think."--Hal Herzog "Psychology Today" (11/25/2011 12:00:00 AM)

"This visually stunning book opens our eyes to a different, more scientifically up-to-date way of looking at the animal kingdom. . . . Old attitudes fall away as we gain a heightened sense of animal individuality and of the pleasures that make life worth living for all sentient beings."--Ian Paulsen "The Guardian / Birdbooker Report Blog" (6/19/2011 12:00:00 AM)

About the Author

Jonathan Balcombe is Department Chair for Animal Studies with Humane Society University. His books include Second Nature: The Inner Lives of Animals and Pleasurable Kingdom: Animals and the Nature of Feeling Good. Dr. Balcombe is also a popular environmental conference and keynote speaker.