By Marty Crump, Alan Crump
The wildlife is full of diverse—not to say quirky and odd—animal behaviors. give some thought to the male praying mantis that maintains to mate after being beheaded; the spiders, bugs, and birds that provide presents of nutrition in go back for intercourse; the male hip-pocket frog that consists of his personal tadpoles; the child spiders that dine on their mom; the beetle that craves excrement; or the starfish that sheds an arm or to flee a predator's grasp.
Headless men Make nice fans and different strange ordinary Histories celebrates the intense global of animals with essays on curious creatures and their impressive behaviors. In 5 thematic chapters, Marty Crump—a tropical box biologist renowned for her paintings with the reproductive habit of amphibians—examines the weird behavior of animals as they mate, mum or dad, feed, shield themselves, and converse. Crump's enthusiasm for the weird behaviors she describes-from intercourse swap and unfastened love in sponges to aphrodisiac concoctions in bats-is seen on each web page, because of her expert storytelling, which makes even sea slugs, dung beetles, ticks, and tapeworms attention-grabbing and beautiful. Steeped in biology, Headless men Make nice Lovers issues out that assorted and unrelated animals usually percentage probably extraordinary behaviors—evidence, Crump argues, that those usual histories, although outwardly bizarre, are profitable methods of living.
Illustrated all through, and choked with vignettes of non-public and medical curiosity, Headless men Make nice Lovers will enchant the overall reader with its stories of blood-squirting horned lizards and intestine-ejecting sea cucumbers—all within the carrier of a better appreciation of the variety of the traditional histories of animals.
Read Online or Download Headless Males Make Great Lovers: And Other Unusual Natural Histories PDF
Best nature books
Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children From Nature-Deficit Disorder
Richard Louv was once the 1st to spot a phenomenon all of us knew existed yet couldn't particularly articulate: nature-deficit affliction. His publication final baby within the Woods created a countrywide dialog concerning the disconnection among youngsters and nature, and his message has galvanized a world stream.
Animals in Translation: Using the Mysteries of Autism to Decode Animal Behavior
Temple Grandin's Animals in Translation speaks within the transparent voice of a girl who emerged from the opposite part of autism, bringing along with her a unprecedented message approximately how animals imagine and feel.
Temple's specialist education as an animal scientist and her background as anyone with autism have given her a point of view like that of no different professional within the box. status on the intersection of autism and animals, she deals exceptional observations and groundbreaking rules approximately both.
Autistic humans can usually imagine the way in which animals imagine — in truth, Grandin and co-author Catherine Johnson see autism as a type of means station at the street from animals to people — placing autistic humans within the excellent place to translate "animal speak. " Temple is a loyal consultant into their international, exploring animal soreness, worry, aggression, love, friendship, communique, studying, and, sure, even animal genius. not just are animals a lot smarter than an individual ever imagined, now and again animals are out-and-out brilliant.
The sweep of Animals in Translation is mammoth, merging an animal scientist's thirty years of research along with her willing perceptions as an individual with autism — Temple sees what others cannot.
Among its provocative rules, the book:
argues that language isn't a demand for attention — and that animals do have consciousness
applies the autism concept of "hyper-specificity" to animals, displaying that animals and autistic individuals are so delicate to element that they "can't see the woodland for the trees" — a expertise in addition to a "deficit"
explores the "interpreter" within the basic human mind that filters out element, leaving humans unaware of a lot of the truth that surrounds them — a truth animals and autistic humans see, occasionally all too clearly
explains how animals have "superhuman" abilities: animals have animal genius
compares animals to autistic savants, pointing out that animals may well in reality be autistic savants, with specified different types of genius that standard humans don't own and infrequently can't even see
examines how people and animals use their feelings to imagine, to determine, or even to foretell the future
reveals the impressive skills of handicapped humans and animals
maintains that the only worst factor you are able to do to an animal is to make it consider afraid
Temple Grandin is like no different writer near to animals as a result of her education and thanks to her autism: figuring out animals is in her blood and in her bones.
After the Grizzly: Endangered Species and the Politics of Place in California
Completely researched and finely crafted, After the Grizzly lines the background of endangered species and habitat in California, from the time of the Gold Rush to the current. Peter S. Alagona exhibits how scientists and conservationists got here to view the fates of endangered species as inextricable from ecological stipulations and human actions within the areas the place these species lived.
Footprints on the Roof: Poems About the Earth
Contributor word: Illustrated by way of Meilo So
Publish yr observe: First released in 2002
------------------------
This provocative number of poems levels from such lofty matters as an astronaut’s view of Earth to the burrows of worms and little creatures in the earth, “where i attempt to tread softly: a quiet monstrous leaving basically footprints at the roof. ”
Marilyn Singer’s lilting unfastened verse bargains visible pictures that provide us clean new insights and recognize for the powerful strength of volcanoes, fens, islands, deserts, dunes, and traditional failures. Singer’s simply obtainable poems additionally contain a few of the lighter moments of youth, resembling sliding on ice and taking part in in dust. Meilo So’s detailed india ink drawings on rice paper offer an extremely good-looking show off for those buoyant nature poems.
From the Hardcover variation.
- Fracture Phenomena in Nature and Technology: Proceedings of the IUTAM Symposium on Fracture Phenomena in Nature and Technology held in Brescia, Italy, 1-5 July 2012
- Geology of the San Francisco Bay Region (California Natural History Guides, Volume 79)
- Eyewitness Experts: Bird
- Build a Bluebird Trail (Storey's Country Wisdom Bulletin A-213)
- Hope for Animals and Their World: How Endangered Species Are Being Rescued from the Brink
- Night Sky (A Guide To Field Identification)
Additional info for Headless Males Make Great Lovers: And Other Unusual Natural Histories
Sample text
Romeo offers his gift. What happens next depends on the size and quality of the gift. If the gift insect is palatable and at least nearly the size of a housefly, the female allows her suitor to copulate for twenty minutes or longer. Once finished, the male disengages his genitalia and then wrests what’s left of the insect from her grip. If enough is left over, he’ll offer it to another female. If only a little is left, he’ll finish it himself. What if the gift is puny? Or what if it’s a ladybug or some other nasty-tasting insect?
These fish engage in “egg trading”: an individual gives up eggs to be fertilized in exchange for the opportunity ain’t love grand! to fertilize its partner’s eggs. I use the word “opportunity” because sperm are much cheaper to produce than eggs. Thus, an individual should try to fertilize as many eggs as possible. What this all boils down to is that reproductive success as a male depends on its ability to reproduce as a female. Why? An individual can’t fertilize someone else’s eggs unless it gives up its own eggs to be fertilized.
Costs are real. Caring for offspring requires time and energy, and it can be dangerous to parents. Also, in many cases, caring for existing young reduces further reproduction. Instead of incurring these costs, many animals simply reproduce frequently and/or produce many offspring at once; among the numerous eggs or babies produced, a few beat the odds to survive and reproduce in turn. Other species, though, display extensive and sometimes amazing parental care. We ourselves care for our offspring longer than any other animal known, resulting in a strong parent-offspring bond that’s not easily broken.