I’m privileged to observe a fascinating diversity of animals outside where I live, but the term “Outsider Animals” was new to me—and it’s the title of a recent book by today’s guest, Marlene Zuk, a leading expert in behavioral evolution and a professor at the University of Minnesota.

The book’s subtitle is “How the Creatures at the Margins of Our Lives Have the Most to Teach Us,” and among her subjects are ones that many gardeners may know—or think they know—like raccoons, cabbage white butterflies, cowbirds and snakes. All these animals have one thing in common, she writes: “When we see them, we ask, what are you doing here?”

“Outsider Animals,” the book and the creatures, were the subject of my conversation with Marlene, the Regents Professor of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior at the University of Minnesota, and a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

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