There’s a more substantial reason we turn our pens to the animal kingdom—there’s no better example of humanity’s complex relationship with nature. They are our other, often better, selves. The monster that is within us always, encapsulated in dread and magnificent form. Our link to nature, to the wildness that has been within us since we first wandered through a cave or fashioned a club with which to bludgeon supper. They are our friends, our family, our charges, our sometimes enemies. We in turn are their Ahabs. Oppressors. Masters. The better among us are their friends and companions.