Groundbreaking, compelling, and inspirational, Masson's unique look at one of nature's most venerable Institutions takes us to animal habitats around the world, yet always returns to the heart. For animal lovers, fathers, mothers, sons, and daughters everywhere, The Emperor's Embrace is a book that will forever change perceptions of parenthood and family love.
Chapter One
The Emperors Embrace
Could it be that there is a politics of knowledge when it comes to animal behavior? We hear about infanticidal lions but rarely of heroic penguin fathers. Benito Mussolini, the Italian fascist dictator, once said: "It is better to live one day as a lion than a hundred years as a sheep." This remarkable statement manages to combine macho bravura with sheer ignorance (the male lion spends most of the day asleep). In any event, why should the life of a sheep be seen as any less inherently valuable than the life of a lion? To whom is the life of a vegetarian species less interesting than the life of a carnivore? Sheep would no doubt see it otherwise. So too would people who actually study wild sheep. In bighorn sheep, the leader of the herd is simply the oldest ewe, not the most dominant but the one with the most offspring, and even the biggest ram will follow her lead when in the flock. Perhaps this female leadership was another reason for Mussolini to scorn sheep. Dictators might mock penguins, too, but penguins have a great deal to teach us when it comes to parenthood.
Until ... read full excerpt from The Emperor's Embrace: Reflections on Animal Families and Fatherhood ebook
