The dazzling author/researcher/New Yorker staff writer Susan Orlean has, she happily admits, always been "a little animalish." That is to say, pets and creatures and critters of all kinds have been a vital part of her well-being throughout her life. This delightful book introduces a menagerie of amazing and/or adored animals: the chickens Orlean dotes upon in her own backyard; Biff, the champion boxer show dog; Keiko, the killer whale actor from Free Willy; twenty-three pet tigers that live in a New Jersey suburb; the hardworking donkeys of Morocco; pigeons that race 100 miles to get back home; and more. "Animalish" readers will be profoundly smitten.