This is a lovely idea for a book: a collection of short essays on remarkable, mostly endangered species. Nothing too heavy or definitive; simply a few interesting facts about the species in question, some personal thoughts and observations, then on to the next species.
A few of the interesting facts that caught my attention:
- wombats could out-sprint the fastest human, fight with their backsides, and have cube-shaped poo;
- Greenland sharks can live for several hundred years, and eat their siblings while still in the womb;
- hermit crabs queue in line in order of size so each can move into the next largest's vacated shell;
- the first confirmation that birds migrate over great distances came in 1822, when a stork arrived in Germany with an African spear embedded in it.
An enjoyable, untaxing read.
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