Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle
Douglas J. Emlen
Henry Holt, $32.50
The animal world is full of examples of extreme weaponry: the mantis shrimp’s supersonic punch, the fiddler crab’s giant claw, the African elephant’s long tusks. These weapons have evolved as the result of biological arms races lasting millions of years.
In Animal Weapons, Emlen, a biologist at the University of Montana in Missoula, explains the science behind those arms races, including how battles for resources and females can influence the evolution of weaponry and how this sort of competition has resulted in some of the craziest looking appendages to ever grace an elk’s head or a beetle’s back.