The Exultant Ark: a Pictorial Tour of Animal Pleasure

by Jonathan Balcombe

Nature documentaries often depict animal life as a grim struggle for survival, but this visually stunning book opens our eyes to a different, more scientifically up-to-date way of looking at the animal kingdom. In more than one hundred thirty striking images, The Exultant Ark celebrates the full range of animal experience with dramatic portraits of animal pleasure ranging from the charismatic and familiar to the obscure and bizarre. These photographs, windows onto the inner lives of pleasure seekers, show two polar bears engaged in a bout of wrestling, hoary marmots taking time for a friendly chase, Japanese macaques enjoying a soak in a hot spring, a young bull elk sticking out his tongue to catch snowflakes, and many other rewarding moments. Biologist and best-selling author Jonathan Balcombe is our guide, interpreting the images within the scientific context of what is known about animal behavior. In the end, old attitudes fall away as we gain a heightened sense of animal individuality and of the pleasures that make life worth living for all sentient beings.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, Animals, Photography

214 pages, Hardcover

First published April 2, 2011

About the author

Jonathan Balcombe is a British-born ethologist, editor, and author known for his work on animal behavior, sentience, and the human-animal relationship. Raised in New Zealand and Canada before settling in the United States, he studied biology at York University and Carleton University before completing a doctorate in ethology at the University of Tennessee, where he researched vocal communication in Mexican free-tailed bats. Balcombe has worked with several animal protection organizations, including the Humane Society of the United States and Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, and later served as Director of Animal Sentience with the Humane Society Institute for Science and Policy. He has written influential books including Pleasurable Kingdom, Second Nature, The Exultant Ark, and What A Fish Knows, blending scientific research with accessible storytelling about animal cognition and emotion. Alongside publishing scholarly articles and lectures worldwide, he has remained active in advocacy for animal welfare, conservation, and veganism for decades.

Reviews

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the pictures!!! The narrative was definitely written by an animal lover...his study of 'do animals love, laugh, care, feel' made him a vegetarian,..but his stories, sometimes received from other people, do make a great argument that animals have feelings. Although there are lots and lots of pictures, this is not mainly a coffetable book...there is quite a lot of narrative that goes to make the author's point, also. But, the pictures are great.

[Wagrobanite · Rating 2 out of 5]

It was okay... would have preferred more pictures, less text

[HD · Rating 3 out of 5]

Too little Snap, Too Much Sap.

Just wanted to share my thoughts on the book. It dives deep into animal emotions, which is cool, but honestly, the experience could level up with more snap and less sap. Imagine flipping through some cool visuals alongside the short and insightful stuff. As they say, 'pictures speak louder,' and adding more visuals would make it pop. Just my two cents!

[Slurry222 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A beautiful book about the emotional lives of animals.

[Melisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful book that makes you, at the very least, question what animals think and exactly what motiviates them to do what they do. Beautiful pictures!