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Dr. Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Journalist Kathryn Bowers: "Zoobiquity"

June 13, 2012
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Barbara Natterson-Horowitz is a cardiologist at UCLA and a psychiatrist. In 2005, she was called to treat an unusual patient: an emperor tamarin at the Los Angeles Zoo. While examining the monkey’s heart, she learned that animals can die of a form of cardiac arrest caused by emotional or physical stress -- a syndrome that also afflicts humans. She joined journalist Kathryn Bowers in researching the parallels between people and animals, and found striking similarities: golden retrievers can get breast cancer; gorillas experience clinical depression; and some wallabies abuse opium. Barbara Natterson-Horowitz and Kathryn Bowers talk about various health issues shared by humans and animals.

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Excerpted from "Zoobiquity" by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz, M.D., and Kathryn Bowers. Copyright © 2012 by Barbara Natterson-Horowitz. Excerpted by permission of Knopf, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.

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