Immunologists perhaps understandably most often concentrate on the human immune system an
anthropocentric focus that has resulted in a dearth of information about the immune function of
all other species within the animal kingdom. However knowledge of animal immune function could
help not only to better understand human immunology but perhaps more importantly it could
help to treat and avoid the blights that affect animals which consequently affect humans. Take
for example the mass death of honeybees in recent years ¿ their demise resulting in much less
pollination poses a serious threat to numerous crops and thus the food supply. There is a
similar disappearance of frogs internationally signaling ecological problems among them
fungal infections. This book aims to fill this void by describing and discussing what is known
about non-human immunology. It covers various major animal phyla its chapters organized in a
progression from the simplest unicellular organisms to the most complex vertebrates mammals.
Chapters are written by experts covering the latest findings and new research being conducted
about each phylum. Edwin L. Cooper is a Distinguished Professor in the Laboratory of
Comparative Immunology Department of Neurobiology at UCLA¿s David Geffen School of Medicine.
