Subtitled "Evolution's most unbelievable solutions to life's biggest problems", this book examines some of the weirdest animals in the world.
The book is packed full of amazing facts, including:
* the fish that kills its prey by ejecting snot into the prey's gills,
* the ant decapitating fly that surgically inserts its offspring into a living ant, where the maggpt moves into the ant's brain and mind controls it
* the toad that embeds her eggs into her back where they eventually hatch so the tadpoles emerge from her body.
For anyone interested in the weird aspects of nature this is a fascinating book. However, I really didn't enjoy the writing style, which was full of forced humour and bad jokes. These stories of amazing nature are more than entertaining in themselves without needing all the forced laughter.
The Wasp that Brainwashed the Caterpillar by Matt Simon, illustrated by Vladimir Stankovic published by Headline.
It sounds like it might be a way to interest pre-teen boys in nature if it’s written at their level. I seem to remember a stage they go through where it’s the grosser the better as far as they are concerned.
ReplyDeleteI help study Battelaria mud snails here in the Salish Sea . Many have a parasite that makes them sterile and those go out in deeper water and have more to eat and get big so birds eat them and then the birds go back up near shore and poop out the remnants which transports the parasite eggs back to invade more baby snails - lather, rinse, repeat!!! Crazy!! (Smart)
ReplyDeleteHi Sallie, yes it may be that I'm not really the target audience for this book!
ReplyDeleteRabbits Guy - that's really interesting, thanks!
Hello,
ReplyDeleteSounds interesting, a book on the weirdest animals. I do enjoy all aspects of nature.
Take care and have a great day!