Includes bibliographical references (pages 185-189).

The Good Donkey -- What We Fed to the Manticore -- Someone Must Watch Over the Dead -- The Dog Star is the Brightest Star in the Sky -- May God Forever Bless the Rhino Keepers -- The Hunted, the Haunted, the Hungry, the Tame -- The Open Ocean is an Endless Desert -- A Level of Tolerance -- Let Your Body Meet the Ground.

"In stories that span the globe, What We Fed to the Manticore takes readers inside the minds of a full cast of animal narrators to understand the triumphs, heartbreaks, and complexities of the creatures that share our world. Through nine emotionally vivid stories, all narrated from animal perspectives, Talia Lakshmi Kolluri's debut collection explores themes of environmentalism, conservation, identity, belonging, loss, and family with resounding heart and deep tenderness. In Kolluri's pages, a faithful hound mourns the loss of the endangered rhino he swore to protect. Vultures seek meaning as they attend to the antelope that perished in Central Asia. A beloved donkey's loyalty to a zookeeper in Gaza is put to the ultimate test. And a wounded pigeon in Delhi finds an unlikely friend. In striking, immersive detail against the backdrop of an ever-changing international landscape, What We Fed to the Manticore speaks to the fears and joys of the creatures we share our world with, and ultimately places the reader under the rich canopy of the tree of life"-- Provided by publisher.