Synopses & Reviews
Witness the dazzling mid-air copulations of slugs, the transvestism of dung beetles, the "lovedarts" of snails, the pre- and post-nuptial snack-smearing strategies of millipedes and centipedes, the dance of the scorpions, and spiders that tie their mates down with "bridal veils" of silk. Splendidly illustrated from nature, this encyclopedia describes with rigour and grace some of the most complex and bizarre behaviours in the animal world.
Rod and Ken Preston-Mafham document and describe the whole fascinating gamut of behaviour of land-living invertebrates such as worms, snails and slugs, insects, spiders and many other small animals. They reveal routines of courting, mating, egg-laying, raising families, defending and attacking, hunting, and eating that exhibit trickery, violence, deception, and odd sexual practices that are generally rare throughout the animal kingdom.
The 200 color photographs from the authors' own archives, all taken in the wild, and 40 line drawings illustrate as many forms of behaviour as possible. An extensive bibliography captures a wealth of research on the workings of the natural world.
The Preston-Mafhams have spent years traveling the world in search of strange animals and behaviours and have produced a number of previous books on subjects ranging from grasshoppers to cacti. Rod Preston-Mafham is a professional biologist who took up writing full time after twenty years as a biology teacher. Ken Preston-Mafham is a top wildlife photographer. Together with Rod's wife Jean, the Preston-Mafhams run Premaphotos Wildlife, a photo library containing a wide range of mainly natural history subjects, which are used in publications throughout the world.
Review
"This book is the ideal reference to go to either before a collecting expedition, or a source of information about the creatures one has either collected or photographed after an expedition. It is doubly valuable because of the high standard of authenticity met by every photograph The curious naturalist will be rewarded with clear and engaging descriptions of a wide range of behaviors, including sexual behaviors, which in this group are endless in their themes and variations. As noted by Cole Porter in another context, birds, bees, and even educated fleas do it; if you want to know how birds to it, there are already lots of books available, but if your tastes run to insects, I heartily recommend this book."
—Ronald R. Hoy, Professor, Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University
Review
"This book is the ideal reference to go to either before a collecting expedition, or a source of information about the creatures one has either collected or photographed after an expedition. It is doubly valuable because of the high standard of authenticity met by every photograph The curious naturalist will be rewarded with clear and engaging descriptions of a wide range of behaviors, including sexual behaviors, which in this group are endless in their themes and variations. As noted by Cole Porter in another context, birds, bees, and even educated fleas do it; if you want to know how birds to it, there are already lots of books available, but if your tastes run to insects, I heartily recommend this book."
—Ronald R. Hoy, Professor, Neurobiology and Behavior, Cornell University
Synopsis
Splendidly illustrated from nature, this encyclopedia describes with rigour and grace some of the most complex and bizarre behaviours in the animal world.
Synopsis
The Preston-Mafhams have spent years traveling the world in search of strange animals and behaviours and have produced a number of previous books on subjects ranging from grasshoppers to cacti. Rod Preston-Mafham is a professional biologist who took up writing full time after twenty years as a biology teacher. Ken Preston-Mafham is a top wildlife photographer. Together with Rod's wife Jean, the Preston-Mafhams run Premaphotos Wildlife, a photo library containing a wide range of mainly natural history subjects, which are used in publications throughout the world.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 298-312) and indexes.