{{short description|British zoologist and author}} {{Infobox person | name = Lucy Cooke | birth_date = {{birth based on age as of date |48|2018|04|22|slash=y}} | birth_place = East Sussex, England | alma_mater = New College, Oxford (MS) | occupation = Zoologist, author, television producer and director | organization = Sloth Appreciation Society }} '''Lucy Cooke''' (born {{birth based on age as of date |48|2018|04|22|noage=1|slash=y}}<ref name="guard-22apr2018">{{cite news |last1=Piskorz |first1=Juliana |title=Lucy Cooke: 'I loved to drink, smoke and have a good time. Getting cancer at 45 marked an end to that' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/apr/22/lucy-cooke-i-loved-to-drink-smoke-and-have-a-good-time-getting-cancer-at-45-marked-an-end-to-that |access-date=14 January 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=22 April 2018}}</ref><ref name="time-4nov2023">{{cite news |last1=Cooke |first1=Lucy |title=The Biggest Myths About Motherhood in the Animal Kingdom |url=https://time.com/6330821/maternal-instinct-myth-animal-kingdom-essay/ |access-date=14 January 2024 |work=Time |date=4 November 2023}}</ref>) is a British zoologist, author, television producer, director, and presenter.
==Early life and education== Cooke was born and raised in East Sussex.<ref name="wu-lc">{{cite web |title=Lucy Cooke - Wild UK |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/3PqPbbFk7Z5glnjpFMcnwBC/lucy-cooke |website=BBC |access-date=14 January 2024}}</ref><ref name="coast-2apr2019">{{cite news |last1=Reece |first1=Alex |title=My Coast: Lucy Cooke |url=https://www.coastmagazine.co.uk/people/coast-celebrities/my-coast-lucy-cooke/ |access-date=14 January 2024 |work=Coast |date=2 April 2019}}</ref> She has an undergraduate masters<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.new.ox.ac.uk/oxford-ma-0|title=The Oxford MA | New College}}</ref> in zoology from New College, Oxford, where she was tutored by Richard Dawkins.<ref name="amazon">{{cite web |url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lucy-Cooke/e/B00QE2JSTC |title=Lucy Cooke|website=Amazon |accessdate=6 October 2018}}</ref><ref name="rb-9may2022">{{cite news |last1=Boyd |first1=Lou |title=Learn how Lucy Cooke is starting a gender revolution in the animal kingdom |url=https://www.redbull.com/int-en/theredbulletin/lucy-cooke-zoologist-animal-kingdom-gender-interview |access-date=14 January 2024 |work=The Red Bulletin |date=9 May 2022}}</ref>
==Career== Cooke began her career in television comedy production, and then moved into documentaries, later specialising in natural history.<ref name="iw-30oct2012">{{cite news |last1=Renninger |first1=Bryce J. |title=How Lucy Cooke Became The 'Steven Spielberg of [Cute] Sloth Filmmaking' and Helped Save Ugly Animals |url=https://www.indiewire.com/features/craft/how-lucy-cooke-became-the-steven-spielberg-of-cute-sloth-filmmaking-and-helped-save-ugly-animals-43815/ |access-date=14 January 2024 |work=IndieWire |date=30 October 2012}}</ref> Among others, she is credited as director and producer for ''Balderdash and Piffle'', director for ''Medieval Lives'' and ''You Don't Know You're Born'', and presenter of ''Springwatch''.<ref name="amazon"/>
Cooke has presented a range of natural history programmes for the BBC.<ref name="cbs-24dec2023">{{cite news |last1=Alfonsi |first1=Sharyn |title=Sloths, the world's slowest mammal, turn survival of the fittest upside down |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sloths-survival-worlds-slowest-mammal-60-minutes-transcript/ |access-date=14 January 2024 |work=60 Minutes |publisher=CBS |date=24 December 2023}}</ref> In 2015 she presented Nature's Boldest Thieves and Animals Unexpected.<ref>{{Cite web|title=BBC One - Nature's Boldest Thieves|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0513l8q|access-date=2020-07-13|website=BBC|language=en-GB}}</ref> In 2016 she was a co-presenter on the four part series Ingenious Animals. She was a team captain on the BBC Quiz show Curious Creatures, which ran for two series from 2017 to 2018.<ref>{{Cite web|title=BBC Two - Curious Creatures|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08w9yr7|access-date=2020-07-13|website=BBC|language=en-GB}}</ref> In 2019, she presented the Animal Planet series Nature's Strangest Mysteries: Solved.
In 2020, she presented ''Inside the Bat Cave'', which was broadcast on the BBC.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Inside the Bat Cave|url=https://www.pressreader.com/uk/the-press-and-journal-aberdeen-and-aberdeenshire/20201031/283704071980916|access-date=2021-11-05|via=PressReader |publisher=The Press and Journal}}</ref>
Cooke is the author of ''The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife'',<ref name="npr">{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2018/04/22/604121405/who-cares-if-theyre-cute-this-zoologist-accepts-animals-on-their-own-terms|title=Who Cares If They're Cute? This Zoologist Accepts Animals On Their Own Terms|last1=Garcia-Navarro|first1=Lulu|website=National Public Radio|accessdate=6 October 2018}}</ref> which investigates popular misconceptions about animals, including sloths, hyenas, penguins, and pandas.<ref name="nyt-25may2018">{{cite news |last1=Lescaze |first1=Zoë |title=What We Get Wrong About Animals |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/25/books/review/the-truth-about-animals-lucy-cooke.html |access-date=14 January 2024 |work=The New York Times |date=25 May 2018}}</ref> She had previously written three books about sloths: ''A Little Book of Sloth'', ''The Power of Sloth'', and ''Life in the Sloth Lane: Slow Down and Smell the Hibiscus'', and presented a TED Talk on the subject.<ref name="amazon"/><ref name="ted-sloth">{{cite web |last1=Cooke |first1=Lucy |title=Sloths! The strange life of the world's slowest mammal |url=https://www.ted.com/talks/lucy_cooke_sloths_the_strange_life_of_the_world_s_slowest_mammal |website=TED |access-date=14 January 2024}}</ref> She also founded the Sloth Appreciation Society.<ref name="bbc-sloth">{{cite news |title=Why we should all live like a sloth |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1hd4BrFhRKXtvklV5snnGyj/why-we-should-all-live-like-a-sloth |access-date=14 January 2024 |work=BBC}}</ref><ref name="sv-home">{{cite web |title=Sloth Appreciation Society |url=http://www.slothville.com/ |website=Slothville |access-date=14 January 2024}}</ref>
Cooke is also the author of ''Bitch: A revolutionary guide to sex, evolution & the female animal'', published in 2022, which is also published as ''Bitch: On the female of the species''.<ref name="guard-11mar2022">{{cite news |last1=Glausiusz |first1=Josie |title=Bitch by Lucy Cooke review – a joyous debunking of gender stereotypes in nature |url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/mar/11/bitch-by-lucy-cooke-review-joyous-debunking-gender-stereotypes-nature-wild-darwin-female |access-date=14 January 2024 |work=The Guardian |date=11 March 2022}}</ref>
==Personal life== Cooke was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015, after which she adopted a healthier lifestyle.<ref name="guard-22apr2018" /> She moved back to her hometown of Hastings, East Sussex in 2019.<ref name="coast-2apr2019" />
== Bibliography == * ''A Little Book of Sloth'' (2013) * ''The Power of Sloth'' (2014) * ''The Truth About Animals: Stoned Sloths, Lovelorn Hippos, and Other Tales from the Wild Side of Wildlife'' (2017) * ''Life in the Sloth Lane: Slow Down and Smell the Hibiscus'' (2018) * ''Bitch: A revolutionary guide to sex, evolution and the female animal'' (2022; also published as ''Bitch: On the Female of the Species'')
== References == {{reflist}}
==External links== *{{official website|lucycooke.tv}} *{{instagram|luckycooke}} *{{IMDb name|nm11210594}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooke, Lucy}} Category:1970 births Category:Living people Category:British zoologists Category:British writers Category:British television producers Category:British television directors Category:British television presenters Category:People from East Sussex Category:British women zoologists Category:21st-century British writers