Karen B. London, Ph.D., certified applied animal behaviorist, certified professional dog trainer, author, adjunct professor and Flagstaff resident came out with her second self-published book titled, 鈥淐ows, Ants, Termites, and Me: Revealing the World of Animals One Newspaper Column at a Time鈥�.
Back in the early 2000s, the pet column was London鈥檚 introduction into the world of freelancing for the Arizona Daily Sun. In the years since, she has written two stories a month ranging from orcas, rats, condors and crows in her column, London Zoo.
鈥淚 just love to tell stories,鈥� London said. 鈥淪o the stories that I write a lot have to do with animals because that's one of my main interests. And why I love to travel.鈥�
Although the column originally started as a pet-specific column, which was passed down to her from another columnist, London鈥檚 background led to her expanding the column to cover a variety of species found all around the globe.
London and her husband first moved to Flagstaff in 2005 with a 19-month-old son and their second son only 20 days from delivery.
London鈥檚 specialty is aggressive dogs, which is where her certification as an applied animal behaviorist and certified professional dog trainer comes into play.
鈥淚 specialize in the evaluation and treatment of serious behavior problems in domestic dogs,鈥� London said. 鈥淏asically what that means is I help people with one-on-one consultations when their dogs have serious issues. And the most common one I work with and my true specialty is aggression.鈥�
She said she has been approached by military veterans suffering from PTSD with service dogs who need behavioral help. Those situations are the clients London said she can鈥檛 say no to and the reason why she continues to do what she does.
鈥淎lthough people call me from a distance and they need help and can't get someone nearby, there aren't enough people doing what I do to service everyone,鈥� London said. 鈥淎nd I'd rather just help people in my local community.鈥�
London said her mentor used to tell her the general public has no idea what animal behaviorists do, but they also are on the edge of their seats to find out. That perspective encouraged her to expand the subjects of the pet column and spread her knowledge just a little further.
The cover of 鈥淐ows, Ants, Termites, and Me: Revealing the World of Animals One Newspaper Column at a Time鈥� was created by a local designer named Julie Sullivan Brace, who also designed London鈥檚 previous book.
鈥淧eople that self-publish books and churn out like six a year, they get people to design their covers for like $10,鈥� London said. 鈥淚 think it's really not okay. I just think like, I'm a professional writer, and I wanna be paid for my dog advice because I'm professional; I want designers to be paid too.鈥�
Although most of the photos on the cover design are bought online, one has a special story. The bird in the top right corner is a photo from a public citizen science site called eBird by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology where birdwatchers can share photos they have taken from around the world.
鈥淚 saw this picture, it's an Arctic tern, which I wrote about in the book because they have this massive migration,鈥� London said. 鈥淚 found this picture, and I bought it from her.鈥�
鈥淐ows, Ants, Termites, and Me: Revealing the World of Animals One Newspaper Column at a Time鈥� is made up of columns from 2008 to 2015 except any column that mentioned dogs. Those dog-centric columns will be put into their own book, London said.
The logo on the book鈥檚 spine is from London鈥檚 own publishing company, Animal Point Press, and the design鈥檚 inspiration came from a drawing her son did. Additionally, the book got its namesake from an article London wrote in 2009 while pregnant with her son.
Traveling is at the core of who London is and is how she gets a large portion of the column's inspiration. London said the first time she truly traveled was when she was getting her degree and took a field course in Costa Rica with a biology professor. In the time since she has visited Costa Rica about eight times.
鈥淚 did the one field course as an undergraduate,鈥� London said. 鈥淎nd then I did three field seasons there as a Ph.D. student. I also did a field season in Mexico and two field seasons in Venezuela, which is pretty cool. My husband and I have taught four field courses at Northern Arizona University [NAU] together, two in Costa Rica and two in Nicaragua.鈥�
London said her favorite column was about a trip she and her family took to Costa Rica when one of her sons was about 10 years old, titled, 鈥淏irds make our spirits soar鈥�. Her son came back to the group running and out of breath because he had just seen a Bat Falcon perched. Everyone on the trip then got up and ran to see this falcon, which London explained isn鈥檛 a rare falcon but seeing it perched is uncommon, adding to the excitement.
On the side, London also has an adjunct faculty role in the department of biological sciences at NAU. When all her other jobs are not filling up her days, she is writing columns or working on her latest book.
Rather than getting writer鈥檚 block, London said she struggles with writing columns that change between topics.
鈥淚 have a tendency to think about birds and insects the most,鈥� London said. 鈥淚 really love social insects. I could write 10 columns about that or just about how wasps have been building paper for millions of years longer than humans. I find that so fascinating.鈥�
Along with writing the London Zoo column, London wrote for Bark magazine twice a week for 15 years, over 100 stories a year. Taking experiences from her life and then translating them into stories she could form columns around, has been the core of her inspiration.
Her love for insects and animals started young. London explained as a kid she would spend her time collecting frogs, looking for butterflies and playing with her neighbor's dog.
Once London and her husband, who is a professor in the School of Forestry at NAU, started their family, they did not let that stop their travels. They took their children on their first long-distance trip to Hawaii when their youngest son was four and a half and her oldest was only six.
At one point, the family spent a semester living in Costa Rica with her boys going to a local public school. During another brief period between her undergraduate and graduate degree, London said she lived on Catalina Island in California, off the coast of Long Beach working in outdoor youth education.
London said she tries to keep the column digestible for all audiences and rather than being too niche. London keeps the columns relatable by comparing the habits of cows and ants to those of humans and using relatable stories to show how similar we all are.
Within Flagstaff, the only location selling copies of 鈥淐ows, Ants, Termites, and Me: Revealing the World of Animals One Newspaper Column at a Time鈥� is Brightside Bookshop.