Animals & Insects

Dorothy's Toto and Elle's Bruiser have a friend in common: animal trainer Bill Berloni. Berloni has been training stage animals for over 30 years. His new book is Broadway Tails: Heartfelt Stories of Rescued Dogs Who Became Showbiz Superstars.

Humans aren't the only ones smarting from the economy's downturn: Animals are also feeling the sting. Stephanie Shain, director of outreach for companion animals at the Humane Society of the United States, explains.

Primatologist duo Dorothy Cheney and Robert Seyfarth discuss their new book, Baboon Metaphysics: The Evolution of a Social Mind. The husband-and-wife team spent years studying a group of baboons in Botswana, observing their behavior, vocalizations — and even their feces — to better understand the primates' complex social structure.

Documentary producer Huw Cordey helped create the staggeringly ambitious BBC series Planet Earth. The series was five years in the making and was shot in 62 countries on every continent. It was broadcast in the United States on The Discovery Channel, and is now available on DVD.

Melinda Merck literally wrote the book on investigating animal cruelty — a crime that's increasingly understood to be linked to domestic violence. Merck is co-author of Forensic Investigation of Animal Cruelty: A Guide for Veterinarians and Law Enforcement, and in June she will publish a textbook, Veterinary Forensics: Animal Cruelty Investigations. (A warning: Parts of this interview are disturbing).

Wondering what your pet is trying to tell you with that bizarre habit or that pleading look? Dodman is the best-selling author of The Dog Who Loved Too Much and The Cat Who Cried for Help. His latest is Puppy's First Steps: The Whole-Dog Approach to Raising a Happy Healthy, Well-Behaved Puppy.

Writer Jon Mooallem wrote "Designer-Dog Fights," a story in the New York Times Magazine about the breeders who breed dogs to create a canine with a particular mix of behavioral and physical characteristics.

In his new memoir, writer Ken Foster talks about his experience in recovering and sheltering lost animals. His book is called The Dogs Who Found Me: What I've Learned from Pets who were Left Behind. Foster also contributed to and edited the collection Dog Culture: Writers on the Character of Canines.

The Veterinary Genetics Lab at UC-Davis has been called "the CSI of the four-legged world." The lab, directed by Beth Wictum, uses DNA samples from pets and other animals to help solve a variety of crimes.

Margaret McLaughlin, director of Bergh Memorial Animal Hospital's veterinary technicians in New York City, is part of an ASPCA rescue team that is finding and treating lost animals in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. She talks about the plight of animals in the battered Gulf Coast states.