Why Dogs Eat Poop & Other Useless or Gross Information About the Animal Kingdom

Why

by Francesca Gould, David Haviland

A third installment in the delightfully disgusting miscellany series that began with the national bestseller, Why You Shouldn't Eat Your Boogers and Other Useless or Gross Information About Your Body. In the New York Times (extended list) bestseller Why You Shouldn't Eat Your Boogers and Other Useless or Gross Information About Your Body, Francesca Gould uncovered everything you'd want to know-and a few things you'd rather you didn't-about the human body. In Why Fish Fart and Other Useless or Gross Information About the World, she scoured planet Earth for a rich assortment of odd and/or unsavory facts. In Why Dogs Eat Poop and Other Useless or Gross Information About the Animal Kingdom, Francesca Gould and David Haviland explore a subject positively rife with gross the animal kingdom. Indeed, animals do the darnedest things and, in this vastly entertaining book, Gould and Haviland uncover a universe of strange, hilarious, and quite often disgusting animal habits, ailments, and practices, -Monkey-Faced Lamb disease; -farting snakes; -dino-chickens; -and a creature you've never heard of that eats with its eyes. Why Dogs Eat Poop is sure to delight any fan of the obscure and/ or grotesque.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals, Science, Nature, Reference, Dogs

272 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 26, 2010

About the author

Francesca Gould is a lecturer in anatomy and physiology, and has always had a fascination for the more unusual and gruesome aspects of the human body.
She is the author of the New York Times (extended list) bestseller Why You Shouldn’t Eat Your Boogers and Other Useless or Gross Information About Your Body and Why Fish Fart and Other Useless or Gross Information About the World.
She lives in Bristol, England.

Reviews

[Peacegal · Rating 3 out of 5]

While this book doesn't offer a concrete explanation of why dogs eat poop--or even better, how we can get our own dogs to stop--it does offer up plenty of weird and yes, gross facts about nature. The young audience to whom this book is directed will enjoy it and learn something, too.

The only complaint I have is the cold, utilitarian view of other beings that the author occasionally takes. At one point, the book describes experiments in which animals' brains are wired to in essence make them living robots with no control over their movements. The ethics of such work brings up some serious and chilling questions, but the author simply writes lines along the tune of "remote-control animals could have numerous useful applications." Come on. Kids are more thoughtful than adults give them credit for, and are often willing to question the world around them. At least raise the issue.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was one of the best animal trivia books that I have read and I am actually quite glad that I was able to get it from a book swap that our church had for FHE. Within the pages the authors take the readers on a touring of animals from all around the world to look at some of the behaviors that they have that makes them weird and exotic to us as people as well as in certain instances quite similar.

Written mostly in easy-to-understand and read format, many young readers from high middle school to high school can definitely enjoy the book along with those who may be fans of nature and all her glory. The book is broken down into various chapters with each chapter searching a particular theme such as parenting, survival, etc. thus allowing the reader to be able to choose a chapter that they may be most interested in if they don't want to read cover-to-cover.

Furthermore each study of an animal starts off with a question or comment to get readers thinking before it actually goes into details or even exploring more than one animal given for a certain topic. Occasionally small sketches are included within the pages that just gives the reader a chance to take a break while at the same time the authors continue to be refreshing by being honest as well as straightforward when stating we still don't know the answer(s) to a given circumstance. Who doesn't like to hear the truth even if sometimes it is we don't know?

All in all it is a great book and one that I would truly recommend for those who like trivia. And for those who may have second thoughts due to the fact that it says gross in the title there isn't much that will gross you out while in the parts that do search such a side it has been cleaned down for the most part so you aren't having to cringe when reading it. Again a definite recommended read at least once in your life.

[Katherine Moore · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up because I love trivia about animals, and a book attracts my attention when it is proclaimed gross.
It moderately added to my knowledge of semi-useful (or is it useless?) information about various animals. It also may come in handy when arguing about which animals are 'better' or when I'm watching Jeopardy, but as some other readers have pointed out, I'm still not positive why my dog eats poop.
(He gets plenty of attention and A+ grade food. He probably finds the cat poop tasty.)

The book could have done with a better sensitivity read and found inconsistencies with some issues presented. When animal testing comes up, there is a complete lack of sensitivity. Then, when a timely topic of climate change relates to animals, i.e., the raising of cows for meat production and how it increases the amount of methane released into the atmosphere (it's not because of farts, it's the burps!), it's suggested humans eat kangaroo meat instead. "We can hardly ask the cows to stop burping." Seriously?
It's suggested that we control global warming because rising temperatures could have potentially disastrous consequences for crocodilian populations. (The temperature of the incubating egg determines the sex of the crocodile.)
I understand that the writer(s) may not want to take a moral or ethical high ground, but a simple suggestion of a plant-based diet would have been more in keeping with the current climate change information.
I think there were some strange stances taken and perspectives on a few things.

I also found an issue with the tone of delivery; I couldn't tell whether the text was intended to come across as sarcastic or with humor. Sometimes examples and backup evidence are presented, and the info seems scientific and complete, but at other times, the reader is left wanting more (like an index).
It's still a generally quick and fun read and could have even been longer.

[Christine · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this book I learned several rather disgusting things about animals.

1. There are remote controlled cockroaches.
2. A spider doesn't have a penis.
3. Squirrels are smarter than they look.
4. So are sheep.
5. There is a reason cats don't like water.
6. Dogs are smarter than cats.
7. A female fossa has a fake penis.
8. The animal world seems to hover around poo.
9. A spider bites off its not penis.
10. The Russians didn't do a good job of training dogs to blow up tanks.
11. Harpy Eagles are awesome.

At times gross, but always funny!

[Mary BookHounds · Rating 4 out of 5]

Books of this type are among my most favorite! I can watch Animal Planet for hours and read trivia books to no end, so this brings together my two favorite things: trivia and fact about animals. This would make a great gift for animal lovers who like that "ewww-- gross" learning experience. Unfortunately, there is no firm answer on why dogs eat poop, but there many theories though in the section on this question.

[Conner Leicht · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like animals and wonder why they sometimes do gross things, then this is the book for you! This book will answer all the questions you have been wondering about some animals like “Which creature can drop its tail off?” or “How do squirrels deceive rattlesnakes?” and last “Why do dogs eat poop?” These questions and many more are all answered. Elementary aged students and middle schoolers will find this book very interesting and entertaining!

[Britt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Does your dog like to eat poop? Well, rabbits and other animals also eat poop. Rabbits eat their poop once to get more nutrients from it and then the twice pooped poops get eaten by some of our weird dogs.

Just some unusual animal facts that are great for trivia. It would have been nice to include images of some of these strange creatures and their habits.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book to keep on your nightstand when you don’t have it in you to read a chapter in a novel. Definitely some interesting facts and I found myself googling many creatures to learn more.

[Julie · Rating 1 out of 5]

poopy book!!!

[Courteney · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of interesting facts you proly didn't know. My kids and I all enjoyed this book and would recommend it to others.

[Kathleen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Engaging, and suitable for kids.

[Cris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Why Dogs Eat Poop

This book is filled with interesting stories (all true!) about the animal world that most people have no clue about it. I found so many of these stories fascinating that I was bookmarking them to share with family and friends!

[Rebecca Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has many interesting facts for you to read about the animal kingdom. Many of it is new to me therefore has increased my knowledge and changed my view of the animals that we see around us and those all over the world. It basically tells us about what the animals do in their daily lives and what their special features can be used for. There are 8 chapters in the book each representing the different categories that and questiions on different animals. Wonderful facts that one may never ever know about!

[Philip Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought this was a great read. It obviously was not a novel or biography, but rather a listing of unique items within the animal kingdom. Each "story" averaged about a page long. All of the stories are interesting to read, and many of the stories made me want to go out and get a random pet based solely on the cool stories about them. A few examples include, why electric companies employ vultures, what happens when you cut an earthworm in half, which animal feeds itself to it's young, and of course why dogs eat poop (although the answer is vauge and not well defined).

[Samuel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was rather good--it was good as a bathroom book for me anyway. It was broken up into short sections for easy and short reading sections. It did start to get really repetitive though. There are far more facts about spiders and insects performing horrific stunts than anything else. Also, readers beware, this book is not for the faint of heart as it categorizes some of Earth's deadliest acts.

4 out of 5!

[Ruth Ann · Rating 2 out of 5]

While I admit I learned some interesting facts, I am disappointed with this book from a librarian's point of view. I don't think kids will be attracted to this book once they open it up. Yes, the cover and title will attract them, but when they start to read they might just stop! Aside from two illustrations at the beginning of each chapter, no other pictures or illustrations are included. I think the authors could have done so much more!!!

[Lucy Weaver · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wish they had included a list of sources. I'm really enjoying reading about all the weird, cool things that animals do, and the books is written with vivid, colorful language. However, as someone who's read a lot of primary research on animal behavior, I saw some unfortunately misleading information that makes me wonder just how thorough their research was...

[Les Wolf · Rating 4 out of 5]

The title suggests something rather different from the contents. A book filled with interesting facts about the curious behaviors and characteristics of various members of the animal kingdom. Informative, enlightening, and often surprising. I graded the book down for poor editing and because, in the case of curious critters, my expectation of photographs went unfulfilled.

[Angie Lisle · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting book filled with disgusting and weird facts about animals. My only problem is a lack of citation and sources - I have no way of knowing if anything in this book is true, unless I hunt down and ask an expert.

[Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

The single most useful piece of information I will ever know?...Penguins can expel poop a distance of 18 inches away from their bodies. That's valuable info in any situation.

[Britta · Rating 3 out of 5]

good light reading. pretty funny and i actually learned some random bits of interesting information.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was both entertaining and educational. However, I was very disappointed with the explanation of why dogs eat poop. They presented several theories but nothing definitive.

[Krista · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting book filled with random animal facts - I'd consider this a "bathroom book" where you read a little bit at a time. It's a tough read if you attempt to read it like a novel.

[Jessica Wilhoite · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was okay - not really a cover-to-cover read; just a bunch of interesting facts. This was kind of a read-what-parts-you-want type of book.

[Perkimom · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun and interesting new tidbits to learn about.

[Kelly K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was mostly amused by the fact that there are a few species of snakes that fart to scare away predators and that penguins can shoot their poo a distance of up to 16 inches.

[Iliana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun, interesting, quick read.

[Zel MacWilliams · Rating 3 out of 5]

Awesome book!

[Gabriella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating and informative, I learned so many fun things!

[Jerry Teipen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some mindless reading. Interesting facts about the animal kingdom.