Un'affascinante esplorazione dell'intelligenza e delle emozioni degli animali, con saggi stimolanti, intuizioni sorprendenti e immagini mozzafiato di Joel Sartore, Melissa Groo, Peter Delaney e altri.

Se un esploratore alieno dovesse selezionare le 10 forme di vita più esemplari della Terra, quali sceglierebbe? È la sfida raccolta da questo libro: dalla spugna che sembra una pianta ma è un animale, fino alla tartaruga dal guscio molle - sull'orlo dell'estinzione e dunque inestimabile - gli esempi raccolti in queste pagine mostrano come la vita si trasformi nel tempo e nello spazio e rivelano l'influenza non sempre positiva dell'uomo sulle altre specie. La divulgatrice britannica Marianne Taylor immagina le potenzialità della vita al di fuori del nostro pianeta; indaga sui virus cercando di stabilire cosa sia vivo e cosa no; si domanda se l'essere umano sia in grado di evolvere in direzioni ancora insondabili. Le specie animali oggi esistenti non sono le stesse di milioni di anni fa, anche se alcune di esse potrebbero ricomparire sul pianeta tramite la clonazione. La 'mezza' specie è la vita artificiale che, nata da un esperimento per comprendere e imitare la vita, si sta rivelando cruciale per il futuro dell'uomo sulla Terra. A patto che l'uomo riesca a intuire e governare le conseguenze e le implicazioni di tanto progresso.

This book is a celebration of the wildlife and landscapes of Britain's most vital wildlife habitats--those that make up our coastline. Sheer limestone crags resound with the voices of thousands of bickering seabirds; endless acres of estuarine mud are packed with squirming invertebrates that sustain thousands of wading birds. In between are the dazzling chalk outcrops of the south coast with glorious floral communities on the clifftop meadows, shingle beaches where terns and plovers hide their eggs among the stones, and dune systems bound together with marram grass and supporting a unique and fragile ecosystem. Rocky shores harbor microcosms of marine life when the retreating tide leaves rockpools exposed for our exploration, and even the rowdiest seaside towns have their own special wildlife alongside the wild nightlife. Grand-scale color photos bring the wild coast and its inhabitants to life, while the text tells you what you'll see and where, from Land's End to John O'Groats via the scenic route. Beautifully illustrated with color photographs and authoritative text, this book is a celebration of the wilder aspects of the UK's coasts.

Everything takes on exciting new meaning when you look at it through the lens of numbers. Even boring, everyday stuff like can openers, snowflakes, rain, and honeybees becomes fascinating when you realize that:

The can opener was created 48 years after food was first put in cans (before that, people were using a hammer and chisel to open their beans)

It takes a snowflake 1 hour to fall to the ground

There are typically 16 tons of rain in one small, fluffy cloud

Honeybees must visit 2 million flowers to make about a pound of honey
More than 2000 entries like these are featured in Numberland. These amazing facts and figures cover just about every topic under the sun including people, animals, events, toys, food, fashion, weather, the solar system, pirates, and much more. With humorous illustrations, clever text, and a great blend of interesting, enlightening, and sometimes just plain gross facts to ponder, this book is hard to put down. (Ages 8+)

€ 11,20

Seabirds are the living links between land, air and sea. They enjoy a freedom that even humans, with all our technological assistance, can barely imagine. Many species travel mind-boggling distances across the length and breadth of our planet before returning to land to breed in large, deafening and confusingly crowded colonies. Yet within this commotion each mated pair forms a bond of extreme closeness and tenderness that survives separation each winter and may persist for decades.
The long and geologically varied coastline of the British Isles provides homes for internationally important numbers of breeding seabirds. Visiting their colonies is always unforgettable, whether they are cliff-faces packed with Guillemots, islands white-capped by clustered Gannets on their nests, flat beaches crowded with screaming Arctic Terns or seaside rooftops overlaid with a second townscape of nesting gulls. The changing fortunes of these seabird cities reveal to us the health of the vast, unseen but incredibly rich marine world that surrounds us.
RSPB Seabirds showcases some of our most exciting and enigmatic bird species as vital and living components of one of our greatest natural assets: our coastline. The author presents detailed biographies of all the seabird species that breed in and around the British Isles, and also looks at the many species that breed elsewhere but which, regularly or occasionally, visit British waters. Every page of this sumptuous book features beautiful photographs of wild seabirds engaged in their daily work of hunting, travelling, protecting themselves and their territories, courting and raising a family.

Hummingbirds have always held popular appeal, with their visual brilliance, extraordinary flight dexterity, jewel-like color, and remarkably small size.

This is the first book to profile all 338 known species, from the Saw-billed Hermit to the Scintillant Hummingbird.

Every bird is shown life-size in glorious full-color photographs.

Every species profile includes a flight map and key statistics, as well as information about behavior, plumage, and habitat.

This authoritative guide has been annotated by the world's leading experts on hummingbirds and features a foreword by renowned birding author Pete Dunne.

Presents an introduction to owls, describing their physical features, habitats, life cycle, senses, diet, predatory behavior, and interactions with people, with an in-depth tratment of individual owl species.

• Physics-Energy and Electricity: How electricity is generated; how heat moves from one place to another; the relationship between electricity and magnetism

• Chemistry-The Periodic Table: How to read the table; how atoms work; chemical bonds and reactions

• Biology-Human (and Other) Bodies: The body's systems-circulatory, skeletal, muscular, nervous, digestive, reproductive, respiratory and sensory