In this bold, illuminating new take on the love of animals that drove human evolution, Pat Shipman explores why humans take in and nurture other animals.

This behaviour might seem maladaptive - after all, every mouthful given to another species is one that you cannot eat - but Shipman reveals that our propensity to domesticate and care for other animals is in fact among our species’ greatest strengths.

For the last 2.6 million years, Shipman explains, humans who co-existed with animals enjoyed definite adaptive and cultural advantages. To illustrate this, Shipman gives a tour of the milestones in human civilisation and describes how we reached each stage through our unique relationship with other animals.

The Animal Connection reaffirms our love of animals as something both innate and distinctly human, revealing that the process of domestication not only changed animals but had a resounding impact on us as well.