"Man's knowledge and understanding of the animal world has differed in every age until finally, in the 20th Century, zoologists have sorted out the marvelous myths and facts and given us an accurate picture of this fascinating kingdom. It is the story of each age's attempt to know the animal world that Willy Ley tells. Here is a popular history of animals as seen through the looking-glass of pre-science and the early zoologists. Some animals, like the unicorn, are fantastic, some mysterious like the Waldrapp, some only slightly recognizable like the fabled wild man, called gorilla, that turned out to be a chimpanzee. Extinct animals, animals never seen before our century, commonplace animals, exotic animals - they are all here, some in delightful illustration, as seen and wondered about by man, the cleric; man, the allegorizer; man, the systematizer; man, the digger. In this volume, Ley reveals the bizarre discoveries of the earliest investigators of the animal world - how they unravelled the mystery of the Flittermouse, the case of the Thorny Pig, the strange disappearance of the wild oxen of the 17th Century, the secrets of the whales, the curiosities of the giraffe, the exotic truth about the Bird of Paradise, and many others. Animal myths, lore, and legend are discussed in the light of contemporary knowledge and continued scientific explorations. A fascinating adventure of man’s early attempts to unlock the secrets of the mysterious animal kingdom, Ley’s story is an unforgettable voyage into the dawn of zoology." BOOK JACKET.