Madagascar is a land where lizards scream and monkey-like lemurs sing songs of inexpressible beauty. KKnown as the Great Red Island, it is a place where fossa and tenrecs, vangas and aye ayes thrive in a true 'Lost World' alongside bizarre plants like the octopus tree and the three-cornered palm. And where the ancestors of the Malagasy, as the island's 18 tribes are collectively known, come alive in rollicking ceremonies known as "turning the bones."This natural and cultural histor...

Why Flight Test? Since the Wright Brothers first flew at Kitty Hawk, aerodynamicists, engineers, and mathematicians have conquered the equations of flight. So, we should be able to know everything from wind tunnels, simulation, and computation, right? No. The dynamics of flight require in air test. It is impossible to replicate all the flight conditions on the ground. Or there may be specific flight conditions on the ground. Or there may be specific flight regimes that are poorly defined o...

“Compulsively readable—a masterpiece, maybe the masterpiece of science journalism.” —Bill McKibben, AudubonA brilliant, stirring work, breathtaking in its scope and far-reaching in its message, The Song of the Dodo is a crucial book in precarious times. Through personal observation, scientific theory, and history, David Quammen examines the mysteries of evolution and extinction and radically alters our understanding of the natural world a...

Winner of the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction * Finalist for the 2020 Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction * Finalist for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing AwardA “delving, haunted, and poetic debut” (The New York Times Book Review) about the awe-inspiring lives of whales, revealing what they can teach us about ourselves, our planet, and our relationship with other species.When writer Rebecca Giggs encount...

The Weather Makers catapulted Tim Flannery’s name into global consciousness; now he is known as one of the world’s foremost experts on climate change. But he didn’t just come into his knowledge and interest overnight. With its selection of exhilarating essays and articles written over the past 25 years, An Explorer’s Notebook charts the evolution of a young scientist doing fieldwork in remote locations to the major thinker who has changed the way we all view our actions i...

T****he monumental statues of Easter Island, both so magisterial and so forlorn, gazing out in their imposing rows over the island’s barren landscape, have been the source of great mystery ever since the island was first discovered by Europeans on Easter Sunday 1722. How could the ancient people who inhabited this tiny speck of land, the most remote in the vast expanse of the Pacific islands, have built such monumental works? No such astonishing numbers of massive statues ...

**Chosen as a best book of the year by The IndependentComplete with an "annotated cast list" of all the known birds in the world—plus gorgeous illustrations—The Bird is a comprehensive and delightfully accessible guide for everyone from dedicated birders to casual birdwatchers that celebrates and illuminates the remarkable lives of birds.**In this fascinating exploration of the avian class, Colin Tudge considers the creatures of the air. From their evoluti...

Sasol First Field Guide to Common Birds of Southern Africa provides fascinating insight into the birdlife of the region. Through full-colour photographs and distribution maps, and easy-to-read text, the young adult and budding naturalist will be able to identify the more common bird species found in southern Africa, discover where they live, and learn about their unique feeding and nesting habits.

"Kemp's adventure-filled journey into the often-bizarre world of ambergris takes us from whale innards to remote islands. A compelling narrative." —Philip Hoare, author of The Whale"Preternaturally hardened whale dung" is not the first image that comes to mind when we think of perfume, otherwise a symbol of glamour and allure. But the key ingredient that makes the sophisticated scent linger on the skin is precisely this bizarre digestive by-product—ambergri...

Stephen Moss answers in detail over 450 questions, submitted by birdwatchers of all levels, and in doing so he conveys a veritable feast of bird-related information in a friendly and accessible style.This RSPB-endorsed book answers all those burning questions about birds that beginners and experts alike may ask themselves as they go about their birding. How do ducks keep their feet from freezing in winter? Why don't swallows stay in Africa? Are birds really dinosau...

Did you know that the courtship dance of some seahorses can last eight hours? Or how the sea serpent myth is thought to have started? This fantastic quick-read eBook features 101 amazing facts split into categories such as record breakers, sharks, unusual fish and many more. So if you want to know which fish the Romans used as a recreational drug, or in which states it is illegal to get a fish drunk, then this is the book for you! Find the information you want, fast.

First published in 2004, and now with a new introduction by the author and a foreword by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., this book of natural history, environmentalism, and politics explores one of the Earth's last primeval places: Clayoquot Sound. Pitt-Brooke takes the reader on 12 journeys, one for each month of the year. Each journey covers the outstanding natural event of that season, such as whale-watching in April, shorebird migration in May, and the salmon spawn in October.