Mid-way through the 4th century BC the Greek philosopher Aristotle turned his great mind to the wildlife around him and documented the behaviour and characteristics of hundreds of species in nine books that together became The History of Animals.
The work is impressive for its sheer scope and ambition. In 130,000 words, the author divides and categorises animal life every which way: by basic physiology and anatomy; by habitat and mode of movement; by how and what these creatures ate. Humans are not excluded from examination, but are woven throughout the text, giving Aristotle the opportunity to compare and contrast the essence of other species with that of our own.
