Family are the Friends you Choose tells of a life lived among four- and two-legged mammals, and what we can learn from them; particularly the four-legged type. As the anthropocene advances, we desperately need to have new ideas on how to live if we are to survive. Can we learn from close association with non-human mammals who have different world views, ambitions and ways of living? The author thinks so as she examines beliefs about animals and the environment, suggesting how we can live symbiotically with all living things. It includes radical suggestions about how we can change how we live alongside, and with, animals. The story spans some eight decades in which thinking about other mammals has changed. It considers our relationship with others, human and non-humans, and how we use the land and produce our food, integrating food production with wildlife conservation. At heart, it's an accessible account of a well-lived life of a human female and her experiences and scientific research. "We have a lot to do, but if we work hard to prevent further destruction of species and the environmental, and we avoid 'animal apartheid', perhaps we can do it."