Wildhood: the epic journey from adolescence to adulthood in humans and other animals

Description

Prologue -- Part I. Safety. 1. Dangerous days ; 2. The nature of fear ; 3. Knowing your predators ; 4. The self-confident fish ; 5. School for survival -- Part II. Status. 6. The age of assessment ; 7. The rules of groups ; 8. Privileged creatures ; 9. The pain of social descent ; 10. The power of an ally -- Part III. Sex. 11. Animal romance ; 12. Desire & restraint ; 13. The first time ; 14. Coercion & consent -- Part IV. Self-reliance. 15. Learning to launch ; 16. Making a living ; 17. The great alone ; 18. Finding a self -- Epilogue.;A revelatory investigation of human and animal adolescence and young adulthood from the New York Times bestselling authors of Zoobiquity. With Wildhood, Harvard evolutionary biologist Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and award-winning science writer Kathryn Bowers have created an entirely new way of thinking about the crucial, vulnerable, and exhilarating phase of life between childhood and adulthood across the animal kingdom. In their critically acclaimed bestseller, Zoobiquity, the authors revealed the essential connection between human and animal health. In Wildhood, they turn the same eye-opening, species-spanning lens to adolescent young adult life. Traveling around the world and drawing from their latest research, they find that the same four universal challenges are faced by every adolescent human and animal on earth: how to be safe, how to navigate hierarchy; how to court potential mates; and how to feed oneself. Safety. Status. Sex. Self-reliance. How human and animal adolescents and young adults confront the challenges of wildhood shapes their adult destinies. Natterson-Horowitz and Bowers illuminate these core challenges through the lives of four animals in the wild: Ursula, a young king penguin; Shrink, a charismatic hyena; Salt, a matriarchal humpback whale; and Slavc, a roaming European wolf. Through their riveting stories-and those of countless others, from adventurous eagles and rambunctious high schooler to inexperienced orcas and naive young soldiers-readers get a vivid and game-changing portrait of adolescent young adults as a horizontal tribe, sharing behaviors and challenges, setbacks and triumphs. Upending our understanding of everything from risk-taking and anxiety to the origins of privilege and the nature of sexual coercion and consent, Wildhood is a profound and necessary guide to the perilous, thrilling, and universal journey to adulthood on planet earth. Prologue -- Part I. Safety. 1. Dangerous days 2. The nature of fear 3. Knowing your predators 4. The self-confident fish 5. School for survival -- Part II. Status. 6. The age of assessment 7. The rules of groups 8. Privileged creatures 9. The pain of social descent 10. The power of an ally -- Part III. Sex. 11. Animal romance 12. Desire & restraint 13. The first time 14. Coercion & consent -- Part IV. Self-reliance. 15. Learning to launch 16. Making a living 17. The great alone 18. Finding a self -- Epilogue.