Hediger, Heini, The Psychology and Behavior of Animals in Zoos and Circuses, translated by Geoffrey Sircom, Dover Publications, 1968.

Hediger, a former zoo director and expert in animal communication, is an authority on the behavior of captive animals. In Life of Pi, the main character refers to Hediger as "a wise animal man."

Kisling, Vernon, Zoo and Aquarium History: Ancient Animal Collections to Zoological Gardens, CRC, 2000, p.2.

This book is a thoroughly researched history of mankind's relationship with captive and collected wild animals, and the changing motivations that continue to promote such collections.

Scliar, Moacyr, Max and the Cats, translated by Eloah F. Giacomelli, Plume, 2003 (English translation originally published in 1990).

This novella, about a young Jewish man fleeing the Nazis who at one point ends up in a lifeboat with a jaguar, inspired Yann Martel to use a similar premise in Life of Pi. Taken together, the...