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Looking for a Valentine’s Day gift with a difference? Look into Act of Love: Animal Courtship Dictionary. The work, which the authors describe as a “visual compilation of courtship between animals”, is an artistic documentation of 73 different species from around the globe caught in the act of courtship. Orchestrated by renowned scholar of behavioral ecology and ornithology, Professor Keisuke Ueda, from the Rikkyo University Department of Bioscience, as well as science communicator Masato Obuchi, the unprecedented catalog brings together animals in their natural habitat, describing the process of finding and courting a mate. From the amusing t
o the confronting, the collection aims to encourage viewers to consider human beings as yet another species within the animal kingdom. Likewise, it explores the primal nature of animal courtship juxtaposed against the more structured human need to communicate. Animals use physical displays of strength, color, dance and sound to lure a mate, begging the question of whether our intellect and conversation bodes more of a hinderance to ourexpression of love, than it is a means of fostering connection.
The work is a tasteful, thought provoking venture into animal courtship that explores the act of love through scientific discovery and beautiful photography. The online release can be viewed here, or a limited run of 1000 copies of the 196 page hardcopy work can be purchased on Amazon.com.