Sweet In Tooth And Claw: Stories of Generosity and Cooperation in the Natural World

It is often thought that the natural world is a place of ruthless competition. Western philosophers have described the 'state of nature' as one in which every organism is at war with every other, competitors in a zero-sum game of life and death. In this beautiful volume however, author Kristin Ohlson shows the reader the lie inherent in that view of the world, and celebrates the generosity and cooperation that we see all the time in nature. From the symbiotic relationships between trees and fungi living in the soil, to beavers preserving wetland habitat, birds spreading and distributing seeds, and bees pollinating flowers and facilitating agriculture, Ohlson shows us that contrary to Tennyson's famous depiction of the natural world as "red in tooth and claw," in reality, nature is sweet in tooth and claw. For those in need of something to restore their faith in the possibilities of cooperation and altruism, Ohlson's book is just the ticket.