The Wildlife Companion (A Think Book) [Hardcover]

Malcolm Tait (Author)

Book Description

Series: A Think Book | Publication Date: August 1, 2004

The Wildlife Companion is for anyone who has ever heard a bird sing, watched a moth flutter against a light, or ambled through a bluebell wood and wondered, just for a moment, how such a diverse and beautiful natural world could possibly have come about. Just leaf through these pages and discover the real truth about lemmings, how ladybugs retract their wings, the bizarre mating habits of dragonflies, how Aristotle cured elephants of insomnia, and how to say “blackbird” in Klingon. The Wildlife Companion will introduce you to a Cawdy Mawdy, a Mouldiwarp, a Hornywink, a Fiddle Dock, and more than 500 more animal amazements, ornithological oddities, and botanical beauties.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With its nicely designed pages and occasional b&w illustrations, this compendium of animal and nature trivia looks a bit like Ben Schott's bestselling Schott's Original Miscellany. It feels like it too, with its combination of whimsy and fact. (The nightjar, we're told, is "one of Britains more enigmatic birds" and was one once believed to suck the milk of goats, making it "The Margaret Thatcher of the Bird World"; the swift, meanwhile, "sleeps, drinks, and even mates on the wing.") Under headings such as "Nature Notes," "Meanwhile, in a Foreign Land" and "Quote, Unquote," the authors offer nature-themed excerpts from literature, animal-related info from other countries and bits of quotable wisdom (e.g., the Polish proverb that notes: "A hippo does not have a sting in its tail, but a wise man would still rather be sat on by a bee"). Other fun facts: there's a Fijian snail with the Latin name Ba Humbugi; moles have twice as much blood and hemoglobin as other mammals their size; and the bombardier beetle, which can "squirt rapid-fire jets of boiling liquid at its enemies," may help scientists figure out how to re-ignite an aircraft engine that has cut out mid-flight. Even the page numbers in this book correspond to facts (e.g., at the bottom of page 14 a note points out that a baby hedgehog is blind for the first 14 days of its life; on page 15, we find out that the oldest recorded age of a wild badger is 15). There's some silly filler here and there (cars named for animals; creatures that Spider-Man has fought), but in general, this little book makes for fascinating browsing.
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From the Publisher

Ever wonder what happens to the 36,000 tennis balls used at the annual Wimbledon championships? Or what was on the menu at Henry IV’s coronation? Would you like to know how to master the Japanese art of packing a rucksack? Or how to say hello in 20 different languages? The delightfully eclectic, exceedingly collectable volumes in the Companion Series are bursting with useful trivia and quirky facts to amuse and amaze. Pleasingly designed, eminently browsable, downright addictive.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 158 pages
• Publisher: Anova Books (August 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1861057709
• ISBN-13: 978-1861057709
• Product Dimensions: 7.3 x 4.7 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,578,932 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)