New Releases
Have you ever stared at a steak, peered at a pork chop or glanced at a goat curry and wondered about that animal? Where did it come from, and how was it raised? Did that creature think, play, dream, or have feelings? Or was it simply a mindless beast? If you've thought about these questions, then this book is the book for you.
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Oh My Goat: Book Available now Oh, My Goat " takes a rollicking adventure through the history of how we have viewed, judged, treated, sacrificed, mummified, deified and – fried animals. Blending science, history, and humour, this book exposes the uncomfortable realities of modern factory farming — from towering hog hotels to chickens that grow so fast they fall over — and challenges the idea that these animals are simply just products.
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Wild animals currently make up only 4% of Earth’s mammalian biomass, with livestock dominating the rest. This sheds light on the importance of how we treat the animals we call “food”. From the psychology of pigs, the social lives of sheep, and the cognitive powers of chickens, Gehlert reveals surprising research that shows just how much we share — biologically, cognitively and emotionally with the animals in our farms and on our forks.
How much meat? Unbelievably, our love affair with meat may well have brought about the “Meatropocene”, a term Gehlert coined to describe the profound impact the 360 million tons of meat we produce and consume each year has on our planet. But far from a guilt trip, the author invites us to look closer, think deeper, and make more informed choices. Whether you're a meat-eater, flexitarian, vegetarian, or just curious, Oh My Goat will challenge how you view the creatures behind your cuisine.
How much meat? Unbelievably, our love affair with meat may well have brought about the “Meatropocene”, a term Gehlert coined to describe the profound impact the 360 million tons of meat we produce and consume each year has on our planet. But far from a guilt trip, the author invites us to look closer, think deeper, and make more informed choices. Whether you're a meat-eater, flexitarian, vegetarian, or just curious, Oh My Goat will challenge how you view the creatures behind your cuisine.
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Are we now living in the "Meatropocene"?
As of 2015, wild mammals (land and marine) comprised only 4% of the Earth’s biomass. We now live in the Holocene, a geological epoch from 10,000 years to the present. Also dubbed the Anthropocene, due to the immense changes humans have made, perhaps it should be renamed the Meatropocene! |
Do Animals show Moral Behaviours?
Animals display a distinct repertoire of behaviours that keep checks and balances between right and wrong. Cooperation ensures the group survives and thrives; cheaters and social loafers get punished, as do their kin, but you also look after your kin to pass on genes. Play is crucial in learning the rules of the social bargain, and who is at the top or bottom of the social hierarchy, and if you don’t play fairly, the game stops. Even rats enjoy play and laugh ultrasonically when tickled. Animals display emotional and cognitive empathy and have a sense of fairness. If you throw a god into this mix, you might even say it looks like a rudimentary religion, but some might say that’s barking mad!
Animals display a distinct repertoire of behaviours that keep checks and balances between right and wrong. Cooperation ensures the group survives and thrives; cheaters and social loafers get punished, as do their kin, but you also look after your kin to pass on genes. Play is crucial in learning the rules of the social bargain, and who is at the top or bottom of the social hierarchy, and if you don’t play fairly, the game stops. Even rats enjoy play and laugh ultrasonically when tickled. Animals display emotional and cognitive empathy and have a sense of fairness. If you throw a god into this mix, you might even say it looks like a rudimentary religion, but some might say that’s barking mad!
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Discover how Chickens are highly intelligent, curious, and social creatures, with diverse temperaments and personalities. They can delay gratification and show the ability to recognise object permanence. Without ruffling too many feathers or counting my chickens before they hatched, this sounds like an intelligent being to me, not just a walking chicken nugget!
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The study of animal intelligence has a rich and fascinating history, albeit one tainted with pockets of unspeakable cruelty. Thankfully, we now possess a greater understanding of the intelligence of animals, their rich emotional lives, memory capabilities, self-awareness, and problem-solving abilities.
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Cows
Have excellent hearing, long sandpapery tongues that can lick their own nostrils and 330-degree eyesight, with a blind spot that is best avoided. They have distinct ‘voices’ and can recognise each other’s calls and whether the caller is stressed. Cows show empathy to stressed cows, elevating their own stress levels and seeking calming friends to feel better. Cows show distinct personalities and, in all likelihood, can ‘mental time travel’, using forward thinking to solve complex tasks to get to food. They have good long-term memory, make great, if not enormous, pets or therapy animals, can be trained and can recognise their cow friends and humans. More than just a beef burger... |
In 2022, on average, 10 cows, 47 pigs, and 2,400 chickens were slaughtered for meat every second.
Those sobering figures highlight the rather obese elephant in the room. It is not only the meat we consume, or why we consume it, nor the questionable treatment of the animals we raise, but the sheer volume of meat we consume that is disturbing.
Those sobering figures highlight the rather obese elephant in the room. It is not only the meat we consume, or why we consume it, nor the questionable treatment of the animals we raise, but the sheer volume of meat we consume that is disturbing.
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Did you know Sheep Were once a highly protected commodity of Spanish royalty? Wool clothed and warmed generations of people, dressing soldiers for several world wars, creating an economy that brought prosperity to a former prison colony. They have individual personalities and best friends and can be also be depressed. Sheep have excellent eyesight, hearing, a strong sense of smell, and a remarkable spatial learning ability. Perhaps sheep are not the ‘dumb’ animals we make them out to be; rather, they are sentient creatures endowed with all the sensory and cognitive faculties as most mammals. Sheep are highly adapted to, well, being sheep!
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Astonishingly, Pigs have 1,113 functional olfactory receptor genes, which is much larger than most mammal species, including dogs, giving pigs an exceptional sense of smell. Humans on the other hand,have only around 3% of olfactory genes dedicated to smell.
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Pigs
Folklore is awash with fantastical clever and cunning pigs. They display excellent cooperative problem-solving behaviour, social learning, and strong cognitive and memory abilities, which put pigs somewhere in the realm of canine intelligence. They help us find truffles, help dispose of garbage and unfortunately end up on the breakfast plate. Pigs are so in demand in China, that high rise hog 'hotels' are springing up throughout the country. Though no holiday for the pigs, its strictly grow em up quick and send them to slaughter. |
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The real problem of humanity is the following: we have Palaeolithic emotions, medieval institutions, and God-like technology.
Edward O. Wilson
Edward O. Wilson
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Discover how the eating of other animals likely drove the evolution of our big brains, leading to cooking, toolmaking, language, culture, animal husbandry practices and the evolution of the industrial farming complex. Find out how we have used science to study and selectively breed animals for our plates and corporate profits. Learn that a combination of mental gymnastics, clever corporate marketing, ultra processing and government policy has convinced us we need to eat meat, not just a small quantity, but vast mountains of animals. Much to the detriment of the environment, our health and animal welfare!
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