Animals and Human Society (PDF)

Animals and Human Society provides a solid, scientific, research-based background to advance understanding of how animals impact humans. As a resource for both science and non-science majors (including students planning to major in or studying animal science, pre-veterinary medicine, animal behavior, conservation biology, ecotoxicology, epidemiology and evolutionary biology), the book can be used as a text for courses in Animals and Human Society or Animal Science, or as supplemental material for an Introduction to Animal Science. The book offers foundational background to those who may have little background in animal agriculture and have focused interest on companion animals and horses.

Animals have had profound effects on people from the earliest times, ranging from zoonotic diseases, to the global impact of livestock, poultry and fish production, to the influences of human-associated animals on the environment (on extinctions, air and water pollution, greenhouse gases, etc.), to the importance of animals in human evolution and hunter-gatherer communities.

The volume introduces livestock production (including poultry and aquaculture) but also includes coverage of companion and lab animals. In addition, animal behavior and animal perception are covered. It can also function as a reference or recommended reading for a capstone class on ethical and public policy aspects related to animals. This book is likewise an excellent resource for researchers, academics or students newly entering a related field or coming from another discipline and needing foundational information, as well as interested laypersons looking to augment their knowledge on the many impacts of animals in human society.

• Features research-based and pedagogically sound content, with learning goals and textboxes to provide key information
• Challenges readers to consider issues based on facts rather than polemics
• Poses ethical questions and raises overall societal impacts
• Balances traditional animal science with companion animals, animal biology, zoonotic diseases, animal products, environmental impacts and all aspects of human/animal interaction