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Description

In the fall of 2007, the oak trees in southern New Hampshire produced unusually tiny acorns. The trees were starving their predators--squirrels and deer. Elizabeth Marshall Thomas worried about the deer around her farmhouse, and began leaving food in small piles. Soon, she had over 50 deer coming to her fields, and her naturalist′s eye was riveted. How did they know when to come, all together, and why did they sometimes cooperate, sometimes compete?

Thoughout the next 12 months she observed a host of deer families as they fought through a rough winter, bred fawns in the spring, fended off coyotes, a bobcat, a bear, and plenty of hunters, and made it to the next fall when the acorns were back to normal. As she hiked through her woods, spotted tree rubbings, deer beds, and deer fields, she discovered a vast world of social life.

Just as with her beloved books: The Hidden Life of Dogs and Tribe of Tiger, Thomas observes animals in natural settings and discovers a network of rules that have allowed earth′s species to coexist for millions of years. Most of us have lost touch with these rules, yet they are a deep part of us, too, from our ancient evolutionary past. The Hidden Life of Deer is a narrative masterpiece and a naturalist′s delight.

About the Author

One of the most widely read American anthropologists, Elizabeth Marshall Thomas has observed dogs, cats, and elephants during her half-century-long career. In the 1980s Thomas studied elephants alongside Katy Payne—the scientist who discovered elephants' communication via infrasound. In 1993 Thomas wrote The Hidden Life of Dogs, a groundbreaking work of animal psychology that spent nearly a year on the New York Times bestseller list. Her book on cats, Tribe of Tiger, was also an international bestseller. She lives in Peterborough, New Hampshire, on her family's former farm, where she observes deer, bobcats, bear, and many other species of wildlife.

Praise for The Hidden Life of Deer: Lessons from the Natural World…

“The Hidden Life of Deer is a glorious achievement, giving new meaning to what it is both to be human and to be alive on this planet of wonders.”
-New York Review of Books

“In this slim and amiable book Ms. Thomas gathers a pile of small, not uninteresting observations about deer, and in doing so she subtly alters the way you look at them in a forest or from a window.”
-New York Times

Praise for CERTAIN POOR SHEPHERDS:“America’s foremost explainer of animal feelings and thoughts has woven fur and scent into the Christmas story, with amusing, moving results.”
-John Updike

Praise for REINDEER MOON“[The author] knows human feelings so well, in all their joy and bitterness. And her literary judgment is flawless. Her wisdom shines forth and, as always, her prose is strong and sure.”
-Annie Dillard