Title: The Animal Guide to Finding Love and Raising Kids
When it comes to dating, relationships, and family life, it seems us humans have
some challenges. From fearing rejection to not knowing if someone really likes
us, navigating our romantic lives can be a complicated affair. And just when we
think we’ve got it all worked out, we start a family and things really get difficult.
Whether it’s figuring out how and if to breastfeed (and for how long) or settling
disputes between siblings, there are a myriad of issues parents have to figure
out. This is where other species can help. Using animal behavior provides a
contextual prism to view what is happening in other species and be more
objective about what is going on in our own. Through this biological lens, we can
explore different ideas of what it takes to have a successful relationship, what it
means to parent, and why and how these behaviors evolved in humans and
other species. And you just might find that discussing picky peahens, honest elk,
and singing siamangs, makes the perfect segue into talking about dating in
humans. While talking about pregnancy in male seahorses, sibling rivalry in
sharks, and coot parents that punish greedy chicks provides the ideal transition
to discussing some very sensitive parenting topics. At the end of the
day, whether it's the blue-footed booby, the adzuki bean beetle, or a slew of other
species, animals have a lot to teach us about love, relationships, and this thing
called family.
BIO:
Jennifer Verdolin is an adjunct professor in the Department of Biology at Duke
University, as well as the Assistant Director of the Advanced Inquiry Program of
Project Dragonfly in the Biology Department at Miami University. She received
her B.S. degree from Florida Atlantic University, her M.S. from Northern Arizona
University, and earned her doctorate in Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook
University in 2008. Verdolin’s research explores the evolution of social behavior
and mating systems. Her current research includes work on the interaction of
personality and social network dynamics. Her first popular science book, Wild
Connection: What animal courtship and mating tell us about human relationships,
was released in 2014 (Prometheus). She is the featured guest of the segment
"Think Like a Human, Act Like an Animal" on the nationally syndicated D.L.
Hughley Show and was featured in the BBC One Documentary "Animals in
Love". Her second popular science book, Raised by Animals: How dolphins
bond, why meerkats babysit, and other lessons from families in the wild, will be
released April 2017 (The Experiment).