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    Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle
    Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle
    Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle
    Ebook458 pages6 hours

    Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle

    By Douglas J. Emlen and David J. Tuss

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    WINNER OF THE PHI BETA KAPPA AWARD IN SCIENCE

    The story behind the stunning, extreme weapons we see in the animal world--teeth and horns and claws--and what they can tell us about the way humans develop and use arms and other weapons

    In Animal Weapons, Doug Emlen takes us outside the lab and deep into the forests and jungles where he's been studying animal weapons in nature for years, to explain the processes behind the most intriguing and curious examples of extreme animal weapons—fish with mouths larger than their bodies and bugs whose heads are so packed with muscle they don't have room for eyes. As singular and strange as some of the weapons we encounter on these pages are, we learn that similar factors set their evolution in motion. Emlen uses these patterns to draw parallels to the way we humans develop and employ our own weapons, and have since battle began. He looks at everything from our armor and camouflage to the evolution of the rifle and the structures human populations have built across different regions and eras to protect their homes and communities. With stunning black and white drawings and gorgeous color illustrations of these concepts at work, Animal Weapons brings us the complete story of how weapons reach their most outsized, dramatic potential, and what the results we witness in the animal world can tell us about our own relationship with weapons of all kinds.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherMacmillan Publishers
    Release dateNov 11, 2014
    ISBN9781429947398
    Author

    Douglas J. Emlen

    Douglas Emlen is a Professor of Biology at the University of Montana. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and a recipient of the U. S. Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering. His co-authored textbook Evolution: Making Sense of Life (with science writer Carl Zimmer; Macmillan Learning, 2019) is currently adopted at more than 240 colleges and universities, and his book Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle (Henry Holt, 2014) was selected as the Phi Beta Kappa Science Book of the Year in 2015. He starred in the NOVA documentary Extreme Animal Weapons, and he lives in Montana with his family (and a whole bunch of beetles).

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    Reviews for Animal Weapons

    4/5

    34 ratings10 reviews

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    • 5/5
      4.5 StarsA thought-provoking compilation of animal weapons with excellent human (especially military) comparisons from different time periods as well as different continents. The author includes many entertaining personal stories in each section and there's plenty of illustrations. The writing flows so easily, it's almost like fiction. Recommended.GoodReads FirstReads Giveaway
    • 4/5
      Animal Weapons: The Evolution of Battle by Douglas J. Emlen explores the similarities in the way that animals evolve their different weapons and the way that human weapons seem to evolve. While I'm not sure that all of his parallels in evolution are true, this book presents the reader with a lot of questions to consider. It is a very thought-provoking book and one that has kept me pondering long after I finished the book.
    • 4/5
      I found Animal Weapons: The evolution of Battle by Douglas J. EmLen to be an enjoyable romp through the intricacies of evolution. It parallels the biological evolution of animal weaponry both offensive and defensive with the cultural evolution of human weaponry. While I don't fully agree with some of the parallels, I appreciated the ideas they provoked. As mentioned it is easy to read and not dry like similar books. Which may lend to my one criticism in that it is an overview focusing on one or two examples for each big idea leaving me wanting a little more. Still the book has given me new examples to throw out at my science class as we discuss evolution.
    • 5/5
      Animal Weaponry is the perfect blend of animal design, defensive strategy and examples of humans using the same concepts from the animal world for our own benefits. This book combines science, strategy and societal actions into an interesting read about how animals and humans protect themselves, attract mates and attempt to dominate others. Animal Weaponry gives detailed information that can't be found anywhere else!
    • 4/5
      I received this book from LibraryThing's Early Reviewers. Overall, I thought this book was excellent. Emlen had well thought-out points and was able to support all of the factors that precede and enable an arms race in the animal kingdom. It went a lot deeper into natural selection in regards to animal weapon development than I had considered before. It was fascinating to learn about some long extinct animals (hello saber-tooth tiger on the cover). I think some of the ties were a little stretched in the human section, however. I think Emlen would have been better served having a case study and making his points within the case study. While he does write about The Cold War, it's within the last 5-10 pages of the book. It does end in a rather depressing fashion about how humanity isn't likely to survive another arms race because of how The Cold War made biological weapons and weapons of mass destruction inexpensive and easy to obtain for smaller nations. Sadly, I believe his hypothesis is likely to be true.
    • 4/5
      Postulates and defends three criteria for arms races to escalate towards (proportionately) massive/extreme weapons: 1) Competition: for breeding rights - the longer it takes a female, or a male in rare cases, to incubate and raise the next generation then recoup - the more badass one has to be to prevail; 2) Economic Defensibility: if prime food and nesting materials exist in a limited area as opposed to being spread out over a large territory, it is advantageous to be able to first take and then protect a portion of this ideal terrain since the females are sure to come flocking; 3) Duels: if defensibility of this ideal terrain lends itself to one-on-one competition (i.e. a tunnel) then massive weapons are baller mainly because of their strong deterrence abilities (can't breed if you're dead) and of course their advantages during fights. Parallels are drawn bw examples throughout the animal kingdom and human military history. Also discusses the termination of an arms race: eventually the immense resources demanded by weaponry can't be supported and/or massive weaponry no longer ensures the advantage. My favorite example being the "sneaky male dung beetle" who burrows into the dominate male's tunnel via a side entrance whilst he's busy defending it from traditionally competitive males and goes to town. Delightful sketches throughout the book and a gloomy prophecy for humanity (weapons of mass destruction change the game, to no one's long term benefit).
    • 4/5
      An interesting book that looks at the development of weapons from a biological perspective. Sites parallels using examples from the animal kingdom compared with human military history. Not something I had considered previously. I liked the book.
    • 4/5
      In this volume, Douglas Emlen offers an intriguing view into the evolution of animal weaponry in nature. Rather than providing a highly technical account of the evolution of specific structures, Emlen offers an overview of the evolutionary processes that is detailed enough to hold the attention of someone versed in scientific theory, but still easily accessible to the casual reader. One of key point in this book is the parallel between the evolution of weaponry in the animal kingdom and the development of weapons for warfare by people. Emlen does a convincing job of illustrating the similarities between the two topics. That being said, while I did find the examples of human development of arms and armor interesting, they, unfortunately, didn’t hold the same interest as the defensive and offensive mechanisms and structures of the animal kingdom described in the rest of the book. The final section of the book disposes with discussion of the animal kingdom entirely, focusing instead on weapons of mass destruction. While interesting and, as noted by a previous reviewer, depressing, a discussion on nuclear war felt like an odd way to end the volume. It, perhaps, would have been better to end on a broader comparison of behavior between people and the remainder of the animal kingdom, perhaps with a section on something like ant warfare.
    • 4/5
      Emlen, a biologist who studies beetles, examines the evolution of natural animal weaponry, mostly the kinds of weapons animals use against other members of their own kind, such as the antlers of deer. It's not particularly detailed or technical -- no descriptions of exactly what's happening on the genetic level, for instance -- but it is a pretty good high-level overview, explaining the evolutionary pressures that shape animal weapons in a way that makes sense. It covers such topics as why some animals develop elaborate horns or antlers while others don't, how evolutionary arms races can lead to some pretty extreme results, and how those arms races can end or even reverse themselves. There are lots of interesting examples, complete with excellent black-and-white drawings of many of the animals described.Emlen also draws comparisons between the evolution of animal weaponry and that of human weapons technology. A few of these seem like a bit of a stretch, but most of them are apt and interesting. The last few chapters, in which the focus shifts all the way over to human weapons, do feel kind of extraneous, however, although perhaps worth it for the good (if highly depressing) points about weapons of mass destruction he makes at the end.
    • 4/5
      Emlen is a very engaging writer whose enthusiasm is contagious as he describes an amazing variety of animals and their weapons and behaviors. The information that animals develop larger and larger weapons for defense and mate competition and that such weapons are expensive to grow is not new but Emlen’s examples include many fascinating details. There are bizarre insects, which sometimes look like alien life forms, whose battles are almost invariably won by the male with the longer eyestalks. (p. 94) While many animals rely on size and weapons to attract and guard a mate others employ guile to achieve their goals. The Australian cuttlefish is one of the craftiest animals in this regard. A small male shows a female-like appearance while he carefully approaches a larger male and the female they both want and sidles between them. Only then does he show his bright courting colors, but only on the half of his body facing the female, all the while maintaining his false feminine appearance on the half of his body facing the dominant male. (p. 153)Emlen includes tales of some of his adventures while conducting research in various exotic locales such as Costa Rica where in the evening, he and his companions, using the phosphorescence in the water, “choreographed neon paintings in the sand with our tracks.” (p. 134) Such reminiscences of his field work in various jungles are just as interesting as his descriptions of the strange insects he was studying. His tone switches abruptly in the last section as he recounts the history of various human weapons and the political brinkmanship that played out during the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. As he noted on page 143: “In one of nature’s more amusing paradoxes, the most extreme weapons are also the least likely to be deployed in pitched battle. . . . the mere presence of these weapons is sufficient to dissuade all but the biggest competitors.” He is concerned that this no longer holds true for us. All our military spending on conventional weapons no longer acts as a deterrent to the use of nuclear and biologic weapons which are becoming increasingly affordable for smaller nations. Animals and insects wiesly avoid fights they don’t think they can win but what happens when a small group of people possesses a weapon equal to that of a superpower? Even if a few elk or crabs or ants suddenly had extreme weapons that made them the equal of the largest, strongest, healthiest male they might encounter, the resulting battle would not result in the loss of nearly all life on the planet.Most of the line drawings by Tuss add to the text and appear very realistic — the porcupine almost looks as if it could amble off the page and the insects are properly creepy. The only drawing that detracts is the saber tooth cat on the cover and again on page 32. The perspective makes the cat appear distorted due to the foreshortening effect. Over thirty pages of End notes give additional comments and recommendations for further reading if your curiosity has been piqued. This was an ARC copy so it did not contain the sixteen pages of color pictures which will be included in the finished book. An index would be helpful and I hope one will be included in the final version.

    Book preview

    Animal Weapons - Douglas J. Emlen

    PART I

    STARTING SMALL

    1. Camouflage and Armor

    It is November 1969, and dark. Moonlight glints off of tree branches, casting small shadows beside pebbles and twigs on the fresh dirt. A tiny metal door opens and two mice rush out, like gladiators released into the Roman Colosseum. They dash into the darkness in search of cover, but there isn’t any, and only one of the mice will survive this race. Above them an owl sits on a perch, watching. Its head snaps into position as it spots a mouse and, with a graceful swoop utterly devoid of sound, it attacks. One moment both mice are running. The next, just like that, one of them is gone. Droplets of blood on the dirt are the only evidence of what has occurred.

    Six concrete enclosures lie side by side, encased in chicken wire to keep the owls from escaping. Twelve feet wide and thirty feet deep, they are more vast to a mouse than Mile High Stadium is to you or me. In three of them the soil is rich and dark, imported from a nearby field. In the others, the soil is sandy and pale, trucked from coastal dunes. Otherwise, the enclosures are the same, and each houses an owl, patiently waiting. Over and over the race is repeated, as pairs of mice—one brown, one white—sprint across the dirt. All told, almost six hundred mice will rush into the South Carolina night, all to answer one question: which color mouse will the owls catch first?

    Owls eat astonishing numbers of mice. When owls feed, they pack fur and bones and other indigestible parts of their prey into their gizzards, coughing them up later as dense little pellets that they spit onto the ground. Diligent biologists can harvest these pellets and pick through them, counting and identifying bones, to reconstruct an owl’s diet on any given night. A single owl can eat four or five mice a night, and well over a thousand in a year.¹ Scaled up to the landscape, owls kill between 10 and 20 percent of mouse populations in a typical year—up to one-fifth of all mice die in the talons of an owl.²

    Despite the brutal toll exacted by owls and other predators, oldfield mice thrive across the southeastern United States. They live in abandoned corn and cotton fields, along hedgerows, in forest clearings, and throughout all sorts of shrubby fields. These mice also live along coastal beaches in sand dunes tufted with coarse grasses, and they have colonized many of the small offshore barrier islands of Alabama and northern Florida.

    In the mid-1920s, Francis Bertody Sumner, the leading mouse biologist of his day, heard about the strange white mice of Florida beaches. He worked his way across their range, meticulously sampling animals from population after population. Some he brought into his lab to breed, but most he killed, stretching their little pelts for archiving in museum collections. The pattern he documented was striking: mice from inland populations—stubble fields and clearings across Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, and interior Florida—were dark brown in color, much like that of other field mouse species found elsewhere in the United States. But along the coasts and out on the sandy offshore islands, the mice were white. And, if you marched a line from inland to coast, there was an abrupt transition separating brown mice from white. The boundary fell about forty miles inland from the shore, and it tracked the coast like a contour line on a map.³

    Sumner noticed that around this transition zone, the soil also changed color. Inland, the soil was loamy and dark, filled with organic detritus from decaying vegetation. Near the shore, soils were sandy and white—in some cases mice lived on dunes of bleached sand so bright they resembled giant mounds of sugar. Ninety years later, Lynne Mullen and Hopi Hoekstra, biologists at Harvard University, retraced Sumner’s steps and sampled the populations again. A thousand mouse generations separated the two samples, but the pattern held. Soil color changed abruptly from brown to white, and mice matched this transition with a shift in fur color.⁴ Brown mice lived inland, and white mice lived on the beaches.

    In all other respects, inland and beach mice are similar. They make the same kind of burrows, for example. They cut in at an angle, leveling off into a horizontal nest chamber about a foot below ground. Many of them also make an escape hatch—a vertical tube that extends from the nest chamber straight up, stopping just an inch below the surface.⁵ If a snake or weasel pokes into their burrow entrance, they can explode through the thin soil capping this shaft to escape. Inland and beach mice eat the same foods, including insects, seeds, and the occasional berry or spider. By all metrics except color, these mice are the same. So why are the coastal mice white and inland mice brown?

    This was the question Donald Kaufman sought to answer with his gladiatoresque doctoral dissertation experiment that November back in 1969. Over and over, night after night, he released dark mice and white mice into cages side by side. Each time the owl snatched one of the mice, Kaufman recorded which one died, and which survived. He showed that both soil color and mouse color mattered. When the mice dashed across dark soil, the white mouse was most often taken. When the soil was pale, the pattern was reversed. Owls snatched the darker mouse. There were additional nuances to the owls’ behavior. For example, on the darkest nights the pale mice fared especially poorly on the dark soil. Their white fur contrasted starkly with the blackness of their surroundings. On the other hand, bright, moonlit nights and light soils made the dark mice stand out most sharply. Mouse survival depended to some extent on ambient moonlight and local conditions but, overall, the pattern was clear: mice whose fur color contrasted with their backgrounds got eaten.⁶

    Hopi Hoekstra and her colleagues completed this story by tracking down the genes, and even the particular mutations to these genes, responsible for fur color in mice.⁷ Once Hoekstra’s team knew the molecular machinery responsible for genetic variation in mouse color, they could reconstruct precisely how mice evolved in response to recent changes in the direction of natural selection. Most oldfield mice are brown, and this color is favored by selection across the majority of fields inhabited by this species. At some point in the past—possibly as recently as a few thousand years ago—mice spread into open areas along both the Gulf and Atlantic coasts, where they dug their burrows into sand dunes and grassy embankments. Beach mice now raced across a vastly different background than their inland ancestors, and in these new environs dark mice got plucked from the sand.

    By chance, some of the beach mice carried in their DNA new mutations to one or both of two genes involved in the production of dark pigments. Mice inheriting these mutations carried copies of the pigment-influencing genes that were just a little bit different from the copies carried by other mice (alternative versions of a gene are known as alleles), and as a result they developed with lighter fur. Mice bearing the new alleles survived better than mice inheriting the ancestral versions of the genes, and these survivors populated the beaches with their pups. Over time, mice with the new alleles increased in frequency, while those with the original alleles disappeared, and the result was an evolutionary shift from dark to

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