Weird Nature: An Astonishing Exploration of Nature's Strangest Behavior

by John Downer

The companion book to the six-part Discovery Channel series, Weird Nature is an astonishing exploration of nature's strangest behavior. The ingenuity of all kinds of animals is celebrated including the flying dragon or draco whose membrane wings resemble early designs for aircraft wings, spiny lobsters in Florida who form a "mass conga line" when moving to deeper waters and the Wallace tree frog whose large webbed hands and feet allow it to glide as far forward as it drops vertically. These animals and many more are featured in this revealing and often amusing look at nature. Chapters

Genres: Nonfiction, Nature

168 pages, Paperback

First published March 2, 2002

Reviews

[HeavyReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a beautiful, beautiful book full of gorgeous color photos of animals doing really strange things. It is really fascinating and highly recommended for nature and animal lovers.

My favorite chapters were "Bizarre Breeding" and "Peculiar Potions" (all about animals ingesting mind-altering substances).

Good stuff and suitable for kids.

[Jake Cooper · Rating 1 out of 5]

"Holy cow!" tone and nonzero misinformation. There's flimsy evidence that mermaids are based on dugongs, the candiru-urethra thing is an urban legend, the sawfish's saw is "used like a chainsaw"?