Lucy Cooke
Lucy Cooke is a New York Times best-selling author and award-winning documentary filmmaker with a Masters in Zoology from the University of Oxford, where she was tutored by Richard Dawkins. She began her career working behind the scenes in television comedy before moving into directing documentaries. She has now become a familiar face on natural history TV, having presented prime time series for BBC, ITV and National Geographic. She’s a regular on Radio 4, frequently guesting on Infinite Monkey Cage and Sue Perkin’s Nature Table as well as hosting her own The Power of… series. Lucy has written for the Sunday Times, Telegraph, Mail on Sunday, New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Her first book, A Little Book of Sloth, was a New York Times bestseller and featured Lucy’s photographs of her favourite animal (she also founded the Sloth Appreciation Society). The Unexpected Truth about Animals, was shortlisted for the Royal Society Insight Investment Science Book Prize and has been translated into 17 languages. Her latest book B*TCH: A Revolutionary Guide to Sex, Evolution and the Female Animal is published in the UK by Transworld in March 2022, and she writes a monthly column in BBC Wildlife on the Female of the Species, covering a range of wildlife including meerkats, orcas and banded mongooses.
Recent articles by Lucy Cooke
Meet the world's most murderous mammal: the meerkat
They may look cute, but the matriarchal meerkat society is deadly.
The secret behind the female ecelctus parrot's flamboyant plumage
Often male birds are more colourful than their female counterparts, but the ecelctus parrot bucks the trend, as zoologist and broadcaster Lucy Cooke explains.
Sage grouse 'beatbox' to attract a mate
The power of female choice means male greater sage-grouse must perform an "absurd beatboxing routine" to catch a hen's eye, as broadcaster and naturalist Lucy Cooke explains.
Bonnethead sharks: the shark that gives birth without having sex
When there is a lack of males, female bonnethead sharks can reproduce by themselves
How black-and-white ruffed lemurs rely on communal help in bringing up their young
How does a hard-working animal mum juggle the demands of a helpless baby with feeding herself and her family? For the black-and-white ruffed lemur, Varecia variegate, the answer is simple: dedicated day care.
Banded mongoose guide: where they live, what they eat and why females start fights with rival gangs
Our guide to the charismatic banded mongoose
Naked mole rat: what they are and how the queen rules the colony
Lucy Cooke reveals the secrets behind naked mole rats and their colonies
Hawaii's 'lesbian' albatrosses
When males are scarce, the female Laysan albatrosses of Hawaii will partner up to raise young, as zoologist and broadcaster Lucy Cooke explains.
Darwin's bark spider: meet the spider that eats her sexual partner
Forget a post-coitus cuddle, the female Darwin's bark spider will engage in sexual canabilism once the male's done the deed.
The chimpanzees that eat bush babies
In south-eastern Senegal live female chimps that use spears to prize slumbering bush babies from tree cavities, as zoologist and broadcaster Lucy Cooke explains.
Why promiscuity pays off for female dunnocks
Dunnocks breed with multiple male partners – all in the name of good motherhood – as zoologist and broadcaster Lucy Cooke explains.
The sex-changing fish from Finding Nemo
Clownfish – the stars of the children's film Finding Nemo – switch sex to complement that of their new partner, as broadcaster, zoologist and author Lucy Cooke explains.
Why do lions take so many sexual partners?
Lucy Cooke explains why licentious lionesses are simply protecting their offspring
The female grasshoppers conquering Australia by giving up sex
Lucy Cooke explains how the all-female matchstick grasshopper (Warramaba virgo) is defying evolutionary theory and thriving without males
Do orcas go through the menopause?
It may seem that humans have little in common with orcas, also known as killer whales, yet we actually share a common trait not often seen in the animal kingdom.