Lucy Cooke - What Darwin Got Wrong about The Female Animal

27-02-2024 • 50 mins

Darwin viewed females as passive and coy. Today's female scientists are revealing the real truth about animal queens!

Lucy Cooke is a British zoologist and an author, director and television producer. She is a graduate of the University of Oxford, where she was tutored by Richard Dawkins. A trailblazer in the field of evolutionary biology, Cooke’s works have included multiple BBC films and documentaries and has published numerous books on various members of the animal kingdom. In her latest book, Bitch: On the Female of the Species, Cooke gives a new look at the females of the species—from same-sex albatross couples raising chicks, to murderous mother meerkats and the titanic battle of the sexes waged by ducks. In her words, “This isn’t your grandfather’s evolutionary biology,” dispelling myths and showing just how ravishing the kingdom’s queens can be.

(00:00) Intro

(01:34) Lucy's journey to writing Bitch

(02:22) Promiscuous female lions

(03:41) Competitive or aggressive animal queens

(06:37) Female evolutionary scientists finally asking the right questions

(13:08) Competitive female songbirds

(17:07) Murderous female meerkats

(21:29) Menopause in the animal kingdom

(23:05) Menopausal orcas and their beyond-human empathy

(27:24) Sex v. Gender and Sexuality in the Animal Kingdom

(29:00) How bisexuality influences societal dynamics in bonobos

(36:31) The maternal instinct myth