ANIMAL WORLD AT THE LIMIT - Animal Adaptation and Failure in the Anthropocene

  • An urgent book on environmental destruction and overbreeding's impact on animals.
  • Accessibly told from Germany's most prominent animal behavioral researchers and bestselling authors.
  • Rights to Sachser's Der Mensch im Tier were sold to 6 countries.
  • English sample translation available soon!

A powerful wake-up call and a fascinating description of what animals are capable of.

Whether lion, titmouse, or butterfly, dog, cat, or pig: both wild and domestic animals can adapt surprisingly well to changing environmental conditions. Cockatoos have learned to open garbage bins to access food; pigs can free their conspecifics from captivity using clever tricks. But fascinating as these examples may be, adaptation has its limits. Wild animal populations are shrinking, species are going extinct, and domestic animals in agriculture and as pets experience massive suffering.

The renowned behavioral researchers Norbert Sachser and Niklas Kästner explain, based on the latest science, how the habitat of wild animals is being dramatically altered by land consumption, invasive species, and climate change, and how domestic animals are offered lives - due to extreme housing conditions and questionable breeding goals - that in no way meet their complex needs.

What can, what must we do now for the world of animals? A powerful wake-up call that, not least, raises questions about the personal, political, and societal consequences of an animal world at the limit.

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  • Publisher: Rowohlt Hardcover
  • Release: 20.02.2026
  • ISBN: 978-3-498-00255-8
  • 304 Pages
  • Authors: Norbert SachserNiklas Kästner

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ANIMAL WORLD AT THE LIMIT - Animal Adaptation and Failure in the Anthropocene
Norbert Sachser Niklas Kästner ANIMAL WORLD AT THE LIMIT - Animal Adaptation and Failure in the Anthropocene
Peter Leßmann
© Peter Leßmann
Norbert Sachser

Norbert Sachser was born in 1954. He is a professor of zoology and director of the Centre for Behavioural Biology at the University of Münster. He studied biology, chemistry and sociology, was awarded his PhD at the University of Bielefeld and became chair for animal psychology in Bayreuth. He is one of the world’s leading researchers in his field. His research focus is on the evolution and development of social behaviour in mammals, and he is currently studying the interplay of environmental and genetic factors.

Simone Reukauf Fotografie
© Simone Reukauf Fotografie
Niklas Kästner

Dr. Niklas Kästner is a behavioral biologist. After years of research at the University of Münster, he co-founded the online platform Ethological – Understanding Behavior with Dr. Tobias Zimmermann in 2020, which has developed into one of the most renowned German-language portals on the topic of animal behavior. Since 2021, he has also worked as a science communicator at the University of Osnabrück. Together with Sachser and Zimmermann, he is the editor of the book Das unterschätzte Tier .