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| Author | Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, Kathryn Bowers |
|---|---|
Publication date | 2012 |
| ISBN | 9780753539835 |
Zoobiquity is a 2012 non-fiction science book co-written by the cardiologist Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers. It was a New York Times Bestseller.
The book takes a cross-species approach to medical maladies, highlighting the many afflictions that plague humans as well as animals.
It documents UCLA cardiologist Natterson-Horowitz’s experiences as a cardiovascular consultant to the Los Angeles Zoo. [1] The authors also consulted medical and veterinary journals (such as Journal of the American College of Cardiology , Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, The New England Journal of Medicine , and Journal of Experimental Biology ), as well as newspapers and science magazines. [2]
The book is divided into twelve chapters, with each focusing on a human condition alongside its animal parallel. [3] Topics cover a broad range of disease-both physical and behavioral.
The authors point out cross-species risk factors, such as the finding that both jaguars and many Ashkenazi Jewish women carry the BRCA1 genetic mutation that increases breast cancer risk. [4] It also discusses practices that reduce risk factors in animals, noting that both dairy cows and spayed dogs are at reduced risk of breast cancer. [5]
The book highlights diseases that are found in both humans and animals, including obsessive-compulsive disorder in dogs, high rates of chlamydia in koalas, [6] and horses plagued by self-harming behavior. [7] Parallels to drug addiction are seen in wallabies and bighorn sheep indulging in hallucinogenic substances. [6]
Natterson-Horowitz’s interest in bridging human and animal medicine began after the Los Angeles Zoo called her to consult on an emperor tamarin suffering from heart failure. While examining the tamarin, a veterinarian warned her against inducing capture myopathy, a term with which the cardiologist was unfamiliar. Further research led Natterson-Horowitz to equate capture myopathy with the human condition Takotsubo cardiomyopathy. From there, the doctor and Bowers began researching other similarities between human and animal health. [3]
The book shares common ground with the One Health Initiative, a movement designed to increase collaboration between various disciplines of medicine, which was formalized in 2007. An international contingent of more than 850 scientists, physicians, and veterinarians has approved the One Health movement.
Philosopher Julian Baggini, in a review for The Guardian called Zoobiquity a “readable and entertaining manifesto,” but noted, “Interesting though these examples are, the book rarely delivers on its promise that bridging the animal-human divide will reap major health benefits, offering instead a promissory note for future developments.” [8]
In a New York Journal of Books review, Diane Brandley calls Zoobiquity an “ambitious work,” saying, “Not only has Barbara Natterson-Horowitz presented a very credible argument for collaboration between disciplines, but she has done so in a most entertaining and beautifully written manner.” [9]
Zoobiquity has received accolades that include: New York Times bestseller, [5] a Discover Magazine Best Book of 2012, the China Times 2013 Best Book for Translated Title, and a finalist in the AAAS/Subaru SB&F Prize for Excellence in Science Books. [10]
A conference named after the book was initiated in 2011 in an attempt to bring together leaders from both human and animal medicine for discussions of diseases that affect both people and non-human animals. The first two Zoobiquity Conferences were hosted in 2011 and 2012 in Los Angeles by the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of California, Davis and the Los Angeles Zoo and Botanical Gardens. [11] [12] The 2013 Zoobiquity Conference was held in New York and organized by the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, the Wildlife Conservation Society and Bronx Zoo and the Animal Medical Center. [13] The 2014 Zoobiquity Conference was hosted in Seattle by the University of Washington School of Medicine, the College of Veterinary Medicine at Washington State University and the Woodland Park Zoo. [14] In 2015, the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts University hosted the 2015 Zoobiquity Conference in Boston. [15]
Zoobiquity Conferences outside of the United States have been hosted by the University of Sydney in Australia and Utrecht University in the Netherlands. [16] [17]
The 6th annual Zoobiquity Conference is scheduled for April 2, 2016 in Philadelphia. This latest installment is a collaboration between the Pennsylvania Veterinary Medicine Association and the College of Veterinary Medicine and Perelmen School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. [18]
Zoobiquity is in development as a television series by 20th Century Fox TV. The pilot episode will be written and produced by Bones producers, Stephen Nathan and Jon Collier. Spencer Medof will also executive produce the medical drama, which depicts a physician and a veterinarian working together to save human and animal lives. Natterson-Horowitz and Bowers are on board as producers. [19]
Veterinary medicine is the branch of medicine that deals with the prevention, management, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, disorder, and injury in non-human animals. The scope of veterinary medicine is wide, covering all animal species, both domesticated and wild, with a wide range of conditions that can affect different species.
A veterinarian (vet) is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, veterinarians also play a role in animal reproduction, health management, conservation, husbandry and breeding and preventive medicine like nutrition, vaccination and parasitic control as well as biosecurity and zoonotic disease surveillance and prevention.
A zookeeper, sometimes referred as animal keeper, is a person who manages zoo animals that are kept in captivity for conservation or to be displayed to the public. They are usually responsible for the feeding and daily care of the animals. As part of their routine, the zookeepers may clean the exhibits and report health problems. They may also be involved in scientific research or public education, such as conducting tours and answering questions.
The New York State College of Veterinary Medicine at Cornell University is a college of veterinary medicine at Cornell University, in Ithaca, New York. It was founded in 1894. It is the first statutory college of the State University of New York (SUNY) system.
The Virginia–Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine is the veterinary school of Virginia Tech and the University of Maryland, College Park - both of which are public research universities in the Commonwealth of Virginia and the State of Maryland, respectively. The college was created as a joint venture of the two universities and their respective state governments in order to fill the need for veterinary medicine education in both states. Students from both states are considered "in-state" students for admissions and tuition purposes.
A veterinary specialist is a veterinarian who specializes in a clinical field of veterinary medicine.
The Faculty of Veterinary Science is a faculty of the University of Pretoria. Founded in 1920, it is the second oldest veterinary faculty in Africa. With the exception of the faculties in Khartoum, and Cairo, all the other African faculties were established after 1960. It is the only one of its kind in South Africa and is one of 33 veterinary faculties in Africa.
M. Christine "Chris" Zink is the director of the Department of Molecular and Comparative Pathobiology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She also holds professorships in the Department of Pathology at Johns Hopkins and in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Zink researches the response of the immune system to retroviruses such as HIV and is currently investigating an animal model of antiretroviral therapy and the potential of a common antibiotic to prevent HIV-associated neurocognitive disorders.
Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka is a Ugandan veterinarian and founder of Conservation Through Public Health, an organisation dedicated to the coexistence of endangered mountain gorillas, other wildlife, humans, and livestock in Africa.
Veterinary ethics is a system of moral principles that apply values and judgments to the practice of veterinary medicine. As a scholarly discipline, veterinary ethics encompasses its practical application in clinical settings as well as work on its history, philosophy, theology, and sociology. Veterinary ethics combines veterinary professional ethics and the subject of animal ethics. The subject of veterinary ethics can be interpreted as an extension of critical thinking skills necessary to make the decisions in veterinary care in order to support the profession's responsibilities to animal kind and mankind. Five main topics construct the physical usage of Veterinary Ethics. The first is history which describes how these ethics came to be, and how they have changed in the modernization of the veterinary industry. The second is the relation veterinary ethics has with human medical ethics, which together share many values. Third, the principles of these ethics which are updated regularly by the AVMA. Fourth are the key topics of veterinary ethics, which describe what these ethics cover. Last, how these ethics are incorporated into everyday practice and also how they affect those employed in the industry.
One Health is an approach calling for "the collaborative efforts of multiple disciplines working locally, nationally, and globally, to attain optimal health for people, animals and our environment", as defined by the One Health Initiative Task Force (OHITF). It developed in response to evidence of the spreading of zoonotic diseases between species and increasing awareness of "the interdependence of human and animal health and ecological change". In this viewpoint, public health is no longer seen in purely human terms. Due to a shared environment and highly conserved physiology, animals and humans not only suffer from the same zoonotic diseases but can also be treated by either structurally related or identical drugs. For this reason, special care must be taken to avoid unnecessary or over-treatment of zoonotic diseases, particularly in the context of drug resistance in infectious microbes.
Veterinary medicine in the United Kingdom is the performance of veterinary medicine by licensed professionals. It is strictly regulated by the statute law, notably the Veterinary Surgeons Act 1966. Veterinary medicine is led by veterinary physicians, termed "veterinary surgeons", normally referred to as "vets".
Veterinary medicine in the United States is the performance of veterinary medicine in the United States, normally performed by licensed medical professionals, and subject to provisions of statute law which vary by state. Veterinary medicine is normally led by veterinary physicians, termed veterinarians or vets, but also by paraveterinary workers, such as veterinary technicians, and veterinary assistants. This can be augmented by other paraprofessionals with specific specialties, such as animal physiotherapy or dentistry, and species-relevant roles such as farriers.
Comparative medicine is a distinct discipline of experimental medicine that uses animal models of human and animal disease in translational and biomedical research. In other words, it relates and leverages biological similarities and differences among species to better understand the mechanism of human and animal disease. It has also been defined as a study of similarities and differences between human and veterinary medicine including the critical role veterinarians, animal resource centers, and Institutional Animal Care and Use Committees play in facilitating and ensuring humane and reproducible lab animal care and use. The discipline has been instrumental in many of humanity's most important medical advances.
Barbara N. Horowitz, M.D., is a cardiologist, academic and author. She is a professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and a visiting professor in the Department of Human Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University and has been on the faculty of Harvard Medical School since 2020. Horowitz is a New York Times bestselling author of the book Zoobiquity on the subject of a cross-species approach to medicine which includes veterinary and evolutionary perspectives. In 2019, Horowitz and Bowers co-authored their second book, Wildhood.
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Kay Mehren is an American-Canadian veterinarian, who is the former senior veterinarian of the Toronto Zoo. She can be seen in the television series Zoo Diaries.
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