Cat Among the Pigeons

"You may know some of these animals well; others you might not have heard of. But one thing's for certain: this clever, breezy book delivers delightful surprises on every page, along with a bracing dose of wonder." — Sy Montgomery, author of Tamed and Untamed: Close Encounters of the Animal Kind

Foreword by Dr. Brian J. Olsen

In an irreverent but loving treatise on the creatures of South Africa and beyond, David Muirhead features eccentric animal behaviors in his native home. Mixing folklore and legend with a heavy dose of science, Muirhead leaves no wart unexamined in these tales of unrespectable animals. A book for those delighted to discover what “pronking” means, or that for pythons, swallowing a porcupine whole is the easy part; it's afterwards when the anxiety really starts.

​In a fast changing world of raw data and flickering screens, it’s comforting to know that the strange and fantastical still roam, crawl, wiggle, swim and soar through the terrestrial and aquatic natural world, ready to delight and surprise us. These stories allow us to laugh our way to a reconnection with the creatures we co-evolved with as a species over millenniums, highlighting their importance to our collective past and precarious futures.

Delightful pen-and-ink drawings by Cape Town-based artist Patricia de Villiers lend an added satirical twist.