Acknowledgments

Writing a book about gregarious animals all by oneself would be a rather hope- and cheerless undertaking. My heartfelt thanks for good advice, patient listening, and close reading go to: Dirk Werle-Schneider, Eric Markmiller, Erik Wegerhoff, Heike Geißler, Heinz Drügh, Kerstin Pistorius, Michaela Schäuble, Nadja Sennewald, Nele Schneidereit, Rebecca Lämmle, Stefanie Schlüter, Volker Pantenburg, the Mittwochsgesellschaft, Petra Eggers, Thomas Hölzl, Marleen Felius, Shae Clancy and in particular to Anne Wiltafsky and Tobias Bungter. An additional and heartfelt “Dankeschön” for their wonderful work on the English-language edition of this book goes to Doris Ecker and Iva Cheung. Most of all I thank and owe to, as always, Svenja Flaßpöhler.