Animals & Insects

Berenbaum was afraid of bugs until she took a course on insects in college. Her new book is "Bugs in the System," which tries to show insects in a new light. Berenbaum demonstrates the importance of insects in everyday life and throughout history, and explores the lifestyles of some of the more than ten quintillion insects that inhabit the earth at any given moment. She also hosts the annual Insect Fear Film Festival, which will be held this weekend, February 25 & 26, at the University of Illinois.

A New Jersey reporter turned freelance naturalist, Montgomery developed a fascination for Bengal tigers. Her book Spell of the Tiger takes a fascinating and frightening look at those animals -- and the people who worship and fear them.

Temple Grandin is one of the nation’s top designers of livestock facilities. She is also autistic. In her book, Thinking in Pictures: and other reports from my life with Autism she describes how her inner-autistic world has led her to develop animal empathy. She is currently an assistant professor of animal sciences at Colorado State University in Fort Collins. Her new book is published by Doubleday 1995. Grandin was the subject of Oliver Sack’s 1993 New Yorker article An Anthropologist on Mars.

Caroline Hebard is the co-founder of the U.S. Disaster Response Team. She and her German shepherd dogs have carried out search and rescue missions at the world's most tragic disaster sites: earthquakes in Japan, Mexico and Armenia, floods in Tennessee, hurricanes, and bridge collapses. The work is dangerous: trainers often follow their dogs into a collapsed building. Hebard lives in Bernardsville, New Jersey with her husband, children and dogs. Her new book (written with Hank Whittemore) is "So That Others May Live." (Bantam Books).

Internationally renowned professor of behavioral pharmacology at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, Nicholas Dodman, is an expert in domestic animal behavior and psychology. In the new book "The Dog Who Loved Too Much" (Bantam) he illustrates his unique treatments and creative cures for pet disorders with stories from his own practice. Dr. Dodman's therapeutic innovations include, changes in the dog's diet, exercise regime, and even the prescription of some "human" personality drugs. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane)

Internationally renowned professor of behavioral pharmacology at Tufts University School of Veterinary Medicine, Nicholas Dodman, is an expert in domestic animal behavior and psychology. In the new book "The Dog Who Loved Too Much" (Bantam) he illustrates his unique treatments and creative cures for pet disorders with stories from his own practice. Dr. Dodman's therapeutic innovations include, changes in the dog's diet, exercise regime, and even the prescription of some "human" personality drugs. (Interview by Marty Moss-Coane).

Science writer David Quammen's new book is "The Song of the Dodo: Island Biogeography in an Age of Extinctions" (Scribner). During his eight years of research, Quammen studied the biogeography of islands around the world. His travels introduced him to plants and animals previously unimagined. Quammen is a two-time recipient of the National Magazine Award for his science essays and other work in Outside magazine.

Peacock has devoted the last 20 years to saving the grizzly bear. Like many veterans, he had trouble adjusting when he returned from Vietnam. He sought a life of seclusion in the mountains and it was then that he first encountered grizzly bears. Now, he performs research alone through the mountains of Wyoming and Montana studying the behavior, social hierarchy, and communication methods of grizzlies in their natural habitat. In addition to his several books, he recently contributed to "Mark of the Bear: Legend and Lore of An American Icon."

We'll hear an excerpt from the new NPR radio show, "This American Life," produced at WBEZ in Chicago. Contributor Julie Showalter talks about growing up on a turkey farm in Missouri.

Phillips is the project leader of the Yellowstone National Park Wolf Restoration Program. Last year, 14 gray wolves were transported from the Canadian wilderness to Wyoming. It marked the beginning of the project to restore wolves to an area from where they had been absent for nearly 100 years. Phillips provides an update on the program. Phillips has co-authored a book with Douglas Smith titled "The Wolves of Yellowstone."

Maureen Corrigan reviews "Lives of the Monster Dogs" by Kristen Bakis, which features, among other things, genetically engineered canines.

Curator of Herpetology in the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology, Harry Greene and Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of California. He has a new book on snakes (with photographs) "Snakes: The Evolution of Mystery in Nature." (University of California Press)

Spider specialist at London's Natural History Museum Paul Hillyard. His 1994 book is "The Book of the Spider: From Arachnophobia to The Love of Spiders" (Random House)

Naturalist and biologist Roger Tabor has studied house cats for twenty years. He has prepared television series on felines for the BBC and has written several books on the subject. His latest book is called "Understanding Cats: Their History, Nature, and Behavior" (Reader's Digest).

Dr. Nicholas Dodman, a veterinary behaviorist, is the author of "The Dog Who Loved Too Much: Tales, Treatments, and the Psychology of Dogs" (Bantam) In the book, he describes his own methods for correcting dog behaviors, such as attacking the telephone when it rings or scaring company, and he includes many stories from his own practice.

Monty Roberts has been studying horses for his entire life. His extraordinary ability to communicate with them has earned him the title "horse whisperer." He has written a new book about his life from studying wild mustangs in the Nevada desert to demonstrating his horse training methods to the Queen of England. The book is called "The Man Who Listens to Horses: The Story of a Real-Life Horse Whisperer" (Random House). Roberts was featured on "Dateline NBC."

Veterinarian Nicholas Dodman, the author of "Dog Who Loved Too Much" and a recent Fresh Air guest. He has a new book about cats, "The Cat Who Cried for Help" (Bantam Books) which, among other things, is about mortifying cat behaviors like aggression, and out-of-the-litter-box wetting.

Chimpanzee researcher Roger Fouts is the co-director of the Chimpanzee and Human Communications Institute. For thirty years, Fouts has worked with chimps, teaching them American Sign Language with great success. His new book, "Next of Kin: What Chimpanzees Have Taught me About Who We Are" (William Morrow) chronicles his studies and work, as well as his efforts to establish a sanctuary for the country's chimpanzees.

Jeff Getty is an animal-human transplant recipient who advocates continued research in this field. Getty, who has AIDS, recieved bone marrow from a baboon in an effort to jump-start his immune system. Getty vehemently opposes proposed moratorium on animal-human transplant research.

Dr. Fritz H. Bach is a professor of surgery at Harvard University. He is a specialist in Animal-human transplant operations. Last month, he and six other public health experts and bioethicists called upon the U.S. government to issue a moratorium on Animal-Human transplants. Bach says there is a risk that an animal virus could genetically mutate in a human recipient and spread among the general population.