The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy: What Animals on Earth Reveal About Aliens--and Ourselves

Arik Kershenbaum

Mar 2021 · Sold by Penguin

About this eBook

From a noted Cambridge zoologist, a wildly fun and scientifically sound exploration of what alien life must be like, using universal laws that govern life on Earth and in space.

Scientists are confident that life exists elsewhere in the universe. Yet rather than taking a realistic approach to what aliens might be like, we imagine that life on other planets is the stuff of science fiction. The time has come to abandon our fantasies of space invaders and movie monsters and place our expectations on solid scientific footing.

But short of aliens landing in New York City, how do we know what they are like? Using his own expert understanding of life on Earth and Darwin's theory of evolution--which applies throughout the universe--Cambridge zoologist Dr. Arik Kershenbaum explains what alien life must be like: how these creatures will move, socialize, and communicate. For example, by observing fish whose electrical pulses indicate social status, we can see that other planets might allow for communication by electricity. As there was evolutionary pressure to wriggle along a sea floor, Earthling animals tend to have left/right symmetry; on planets where creatures evolved in midair or in soupy tar, they might be lacking any symmetry at all.

Might there be an alien planet with supersonic animals? A moon where creatures have a language composed of smells? Will aliens scream with fear, act honestly, or have technology? The Zoologist's Guide to the Galaxy answers these questions using the latest science to tell the story of how life really works, on Earth and in space.

Ratings and reviews

In this book, the author uses the principles of natural selection to logically deduce what the characteristics of alien life might be: how alien life might resemble life on Earth, and how it might differ. I enjoyed those insights—they seemed sensible, enlightening, and persuasive. The book kind of fell apart for me at the end, when the author got into a philosophical discussion of whether intelligent extraterrestrial life should be considered "human." That seemed fairly pointless. The term "human" refers to our species, or more broadly, our genus. It's kind of like arguing about whether the term "dog" should refer only to Canis familiaris, or to all animal companions of intelligent species who join with them in cooperative hunting. At some point—most likely decades or centuries from now—we may be forced to confront the ethics of how to interact with intelligent alien life forms. For now, I think we'd be better off exploring the ethics of how we treat nonhuman earthly creatures that demonstrate self-awareness: apes, dolphins, and elephants, for example. The author touched on that question, but didn't seem to make a persuasive argument one way or another. That seemed to me a lost opportunity. It's a much more pressing question, especially given the endangered status of our nearest relatives in the animal kingdom. I care a lot more about chimps and gorillas than I do about hypothetical intelligent beings living light years away. Ultimately, this book is a thought experiment that invites us to think more logically and critically about the role of life in the universe. I hope it inspires people to think more logically and compassionately about life on our own planet as well. While it's important for us to explore other bodies in our solar system for evidence of life, it's even more critical for us to protect the species here at home, in all their diverse beauty. I hope readers go away from the book with that message in mind. Thanks, NetGalley, for the ARC I received. This is my honest and voluntary review.

About the author

Dr. Arik Kershenbaum is a zoologist, college lecturer, and fellow at Girton College, University of Cambridge. He has done extensive field work on animal communication, following wolves around Yellowstone National Park and the forests of central Wisconsin to uncover the meaning of their different kinds of howls, as well as decoding the whistles of dolphins among the coral reefs of the Red Sea, and the songs of hyraxes in the Galilee. He is a member of the international board of advisors for METI.org, a think tank on the topic of messaging extraterrestrial intelligence.