ANIMALS ALONE AND TOGETHER

Random notes on animal interaction, with a chapter on fighting following one on birds; with many examples of pairing, child-rearing, territoriality, predation, and other behavior patterns; with such intriguing phenomena as play and communication noted but not investigated; and with orienting overviews and principles--such as those determining herd, pack, solo, or one- or two-parent living patterns--confined to occasional pages of diagrams or captioned illustrations. Cosgrove's text is marred by cute quotes (""the bear roams 'lonely as a cloud' "") and loose statements (she asserts that ""courage and heroism exist among feathered and furry creatures"" and that ""our vendetta [against predators] probably began"" as campfire horror tales among prehistoric humans). By the end, she does get across her major point: the suitability of each species' behavior and family patterns to its particular needs--as determined by size, habitat, maturation rate, and so on. Interesting, but not as sharp as it might be.