Racing Cheetahs, Stinky Lemurs, Sleepy Koalas, Diving Polar Bears and more!
SABRINA WEISS & PAUL DAVIZ
EXTREME SURVIVORS Animals adapt in some unusual ways in order to survive in their habitats. Imagine going weeks or even years without food or water. The freezing cold or boiling heat does not deter some animals from thriving. Some are so tough they can be exposed to the harsh conditions of outer space.
ALPINE SWIFT
(23 centimetres, southern Europe) Alpine swifts can fly for more than six months without landing once. They catch insects midair and nap while gliding in the air.
AFRICAN LUNGFISH (1.25 metres, Africa)
ARABIAN CAMEL
(3 metres, Africa and Asia) Arabian camels store fat in the hump on their backs. The fat breaks down into water and energy when there is no water or food available in the dry desert. When they find water, camels can gulp over 100 litres in less than 15 minutes.
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Unlike other fish, lungfish have both gills and lungs to breathe. When a pond’s water dries out, lungfish burrow themselves into the muddy ground. They then secrete a layer of slime around themselves, which hardens into a cocoon and holds the moisture in. The fish can survive without water and simply breathe in air through a hole in the mud.
WOOD FROG
(8.25 centimetres, North America) Wood frogs spend the winter nestled under leaves and pieces of dead wood on the forest floor. Their heart stops beating, and two-thirds of their body water turns into ice. However, the frogs’ bodies produce a special substance that prevents the vital organs from freezing. Come spring, the frogs thaw and leap back to life.
YETI CRAB
(15 centimetres, Antarctica) Blind and surrounded by freezing water, yeti crabs pile on top of each other near thermal vents on the ocean floor. Moving too close to the vents would be deadly, though. These chimney-like structures seep out water as hot as 400 degrees Celsius.
KANGAROO RAT
(20 centimetres, North America) The kangaroo rat lives in the deserts of North America. It does not need to drink water to survive and gets the moisture it needs from eating seeds.
TARDIGRADE
(less than 1 millimetre, worldwide) Tardigrades – also called water bears – are tiny invertebrates that can tolerate conditions such as extreme heat and cold. They have even survived being in space with no oxygen. The super-tough water bears can also endure being completely dried out: when under stress, the animals retract their head and eight legs and expel almost all the water from their bodies. Tardigrades curl into dried-up balls and can remain in this state for as long as a decade. When exposed to water again, they revive within hours. 3
WILD WETLAND Nestled in the heart of South America, the Pantanal is the largest freshwater wetland in the world. Here life revolves around an immense network of rivers, streams and lakes. Wetlands are areas where the land does not drain well, leaving the ground saturated with water. In the Pantanal, it rains so much between November and April that the rivers overflow their banks and flood most of this vast landscape. The water forms shallow lakes and leaves island-like areas of higher ground. The water levels decrease again during the dry season. Animals then gather around the SOUTH AMERICA remaining water to drink and to look out for their next meal.
Jaguar (1.8 metres) Who said cats don’t like water? Jaguars are good swimmers and ambush unsuspecting capybaras, caimans and sometimes even anacondas in the water. The jaguar has the strongest bite of all big cats: it can pierce a caiman’s skull to kill it.
Giant river otter (1.8 metres) Giant river otters dig burrows by the river’s edge to give birth on land. They may also hide under fallen tree trunks. Otter pups first emerge from their dens when they are about two months old and learn to swim in the river.
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Green anaconda (9.1 metres) The olive-coloured giant anaconda is the heaviest snake in the world and lies completely submerged in wait for capybaras, deer and birds that come to the river to drink.
Caiman (3 metres) The yacare caiman basks silently in the sun along the edges of riverbanks. When hunting, it moves into the murky waters and stays motionless until fish or snails come within snapping reach – but it’s important to stay alert when you might be dinner for a stalking jaguar.
Toco toucan (83 centimetres) The striking beak of the toco toucan measures 19 centimetres – one third of the bird’s body length – making it the longest of any bird of its size. Thankfully for the toucan, the beak is not too heavy. It is made of keratin, just like human hair and nails.
Piranha (33 centimetres) With their razor-sharp triangular teeth and relentless bite, piranhas will munch on anything they can sink their jaws into: fish, insects, carrion (dead animals) and even aquatic plants.
Capybara (1.4 metres) The world’s largest rodents live near rivers. They are excellent swimmers and spend the hottest hours of the day in the water. Female capybaras raise their young in groups, providing safety in numbers. 5
CORAL REEF Coral reefs teem with life. They are made up not only of corals, but fish, sea turtles, sharks, rays and much more. One quarter of all ocean species depend on these reefs for food and shelter. That is why coral reefs are often called the rainforests of the sea.
Manta ray
Angelfish
Gramma
Frogfish
Sea snake
Hiding in plain sight Marine animals come in striking colours and patterns. Some can brighten or darken their hues to communicate with other members of their species. But others would rather go unnoticed and camouflage themselves to avoid being eaten by predators. Frogfish (30 centimetres) are difficult to spot among colourful sponges and coral. Stonefish (40 centimetres) look like harmless rocks, but their spines are dangerously venomous. Stonefish
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Cleaner wrasse
Blacktip reef shark
Cleaning stations Reef manta rays (5.5-metre ‘finspan’, tropical oceans) regularly visit ‘cleaning stations’ on coral reefs to have small fish – including butterflyfish, goldies and cleaner wrasse – pick off parasites or dead skin. The mantas stay healthy and the cleaners get a free meal.
ROCK, PLANT OR ANIMAL? Corals are often mistaken for rocks or plants. They are actually made up of tiny animals called polyps. These soft-bodied polyps build themselves a hard skeleton made of limestone, which, in turn, forms the foundation for the next generation of polyps. Hundreds to thousands of polyps later, we can see a coral reef form. Corals come in many shapes, sizes and colours. Staghorn corals are named after their long branches that resemble stag antlers. The aptly named brain corals are another type of hard coral.
Butterflyfish
Soft coral
Soft corals, such as sea fans and tree corals, lack hard skeletons and sway back and forth with the ocean current.
Don’t eat me Pufferfish are famous for their ability to fill their elastic stomachs with huge amounts of water and blow themselves up to several times their normal body size. The poison from a single tiger pufferfish (4 centimetres, Japan) is enough to kill 30 adult humans if eaten. Yet, some highly trained chefs know how to remove the deadly parts and have a licence to serve the fish in Japanese restaurants.
Emperor angelfish Hard coral
Pufferfish
Goatfish
Clownfish
Conger eel
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AMAZING Animals
100+ Creatures That Will Boggle Your Mind Author: Sabrina Weiss Illustrator: Paul Daviz Ages: 7+ years Price: £14.99 Format: Hardback Extent: 64 pages Trim size: 280 x 260mm Pub date: 3rd February 2022 ISBN: 978-1-9129203-5-8 Description Discover over 100 of the world’s most remarkable creatures in this beautifully illustrated tour of Earth’s wildlife. Animals come in all sorts of weird and wonderful shapes and sizes. From the record breaking tongue of a chameleon to the dashing dance of the peacock spider, you’ll learn about the most amazing examples from air, land and sea. Discover playful dolphins, sleepy koalas and even a fish that keeps its babies safe in its own mouth, uncovering the secrets of their survival, the incredible habitats they call home as well as the environmental threats putting them in danger. A central gatefold offers a world map which reveals the locations of all the animals included in the book. Selling points • Explore Earth’s natural world, environments and wildlife, including learning about endangered animals and the threats they face • Part of the Our Amazing World Series, which also includes Amazing Islands, Amazing Treasures and Amazing Rivers • Includes rich illustrations, world map, lavish double gatefold spread, glossary and index • Incredible facts and bite size information about all sorts of animals on land, sea and in the air
Author information Sabrina Weiss is a London-based journalist covering science, the environment and technology. An avid diver and photographer, she loves to plunge into the deep blue and photograph the animals we share our planet with. Sabrina is in a constant state of wanderlust and is always ready for the next adventure. Sabrina Weiss is the author of Ocean: Secrets of the Deep (What on Earth Books, 2019) and Amazing Islands (What on Earth Books, 2020). Illustrator information Draw. Draw. Draw. This has been the story of Paul Daviz’s life from an early age. He drew on his schoolbooks, drew when he got a job in a pyjama factory, and built up an extraordinary portfolio of imagery which won him work storyboarding TV commercials, animated productions, packaging and print campaigns for top London agencies. Originally from Blackburn, today Paul is a vastly experienced illustrator confident working in a whole range of cartoony styles, and still draws on a daily basis.
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