OUTSIDER ANIMALS with Marlene Zuk

We tend to celebrate the animals we find fascinating - primates, whales, octopuses, honeybees. But what about the creatures that live alongside us every day, often attracting rather less affection?

The gulls that patrol Brighton’s streets and seafront. Foxes and badgers moving through our gardens at night. Rats and cockroaches thriving in the spaces we create. Insects, birds and other wildlife adapting to roads, buildings and an increasingly crowded urban world.

Join evolutionary biologist, Marlene Zuk, as she takes a closer look at the overlooked animals that live in close proximity to humans. With characteristic curiosity and humour, she asks what these creatures can reveal about adaptation, evolution and our complicated relationship with the natural world.

From coyotes to cockroaches, Zuk explores what supposedly unpopular animals can teach us about predators, pregnancy, pollution, invasive species and cohabitation. Along the way, she challenges our assumptions about which animals are worth studying - and what it means for a species to belong.

AUTHOR BIO

Marlene Zuk is Regents Professor Emerita of Ecology, Evolution, and Behaviour at the University of Minnesota and a member of the National Academy of Sciences. She is an evolutionary biologist who researches, writes, and speaks on animal behaviour and evolution, particularly sexual selection and communication. Her books include Dancing Cockatoos and the Dead Man Test, Paleofantasy and How We Live.

Marlene will also be signing copies of her new book, Outsider Animals, published by Princeton University Press, which will be available to purchase on the night.