Atlas Obscura: Wild Life: An Explorers Guide to the Worlds Living Wonders Giaimo Cara (2024)

From the authors of Atlas Obscura and Gastro Obscura comes a nature book like no other, a dazzling collection of the worlds most extraordinary wild species across all seven continents and beyond. More than a field guide, it is an adventure into the worlds living wonders. Learn how dung beetles navigate by the stars and how trees communicate through their roots. Meet the peacock mantis shrimp, one of the strongest animals in the world, pay your respects to a 44,000-year-old shrub, float along flying rivers, and explore a garbage dump overseen by endangered storks. First-person interviews introduce a honey hunter and his avian partners, a scientist searching for the worlds only ocean-dwelling insects, and an offshore radio DJ at the heart of a local fishing community. The book also examines historical examples of bird-song notation written on sheet music. Featuring more than 500 extraordinary plants, animals, and natural phenomena, with illustrations and photographs on every page, it travels from Antarctic deserts and lush jungles to the deepest ocean and the hearts of the worlds densest cities, renewing our sense of wonder at the creatures we share the planet with.