What Animal Caregiving Reveals About Us
We talk to Preston about her new book, “The Creatures’ Guide to Caring.”
May 4, 2026
54 min
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3,321 of 3,393
May 4, 2026
What Animal Caregiving Reveals About Us
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Episode 3,321 of 3,393 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
What Animal Caregiving Reveals About Us
Summary
A blue whale mother that fasts for months while her calf puts on close to 250 pounds a day. A male hamster who acts as a midwife while his partner gives birth. Healthy bird parents that lurch along the ground, feigning injury to keep predators away from their nest. These are some of the remarkable examples of animal caregiving that science journalist Elizabeth Preston says can hold up “uncanny mirrors to the human experience and the puzzle of why and how we’ve evolved to pour our resources into our children.” We talk to Preston about her new book, “The Creatures’ Guide to Caring.” What have you noticed about the animal caregivers around you?
Guests:
Elizabeth Preston, science journalist; author, "The Creatures' Guide to Caring: How Animal Parents Teach Us That Humans Were Born to Care"
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