Andrew Cleave

FROGS and toads are some of the most interesting creatures of the amphibian world. Their variety is enormous, from the familiar bullfrog of ponds and lakes to the exotic but deadly arrow-poison frog of the tropical rain forests. Their history stretches back 300 million years, and their ancestors may have been among the first animals to leave the water for life on land. Readers will introduce themselves to a few of the more than 2,700 species known...

Everyday dandelions or showy orchids-wildflowers come in an amazing variety of colors, shapes, and sizes. The flowers all of us enjoy in our gardens and from florists-roses, irises, and orchids-were all developed from wild species. In their natural states, wildflowers add color and beauty to even the harshest of landscapes. Always a joy to look at, wildflowers also display some incredible adaptations to extreme environments. From snow-crested mountaintops...

SEASHELLS offers a handsomely illustrated introduction to the fascinating world of the mollusk, covering topics such as shell structure, classifications, gastropods, bivalves (scallops, oysters, clams, and members of the nautilus family), land and tree snails, and the ethics of shell collecting. Few natural objects are as beautiful as the shells of mollusks. Shells occur in all the world's oceans, from the polar regions to the tropics, and few beaches...

CURIOUS CREATURES is a beautifully provocative view of nature's most unusual and memorable creatures. Fish that fly, birds that are flightless, beautiful but deadly insects, snakes that play dead, and well-camouflaged predators - no matter how bizarre in form or seemingly odd in behavior, each animal has a very specific reason for looking and acting as it does. This book explains striking behavior and vividly portrays animals that have specially adapted...

BIG CATS is a lively account of the most remarkable and fascinating of land predators, the world's hunting cats. With their retractable claws, gaping jaws filled with fearsome teeth, alert reflexes, and muscular limbs, big cats are formidable predators as well as familiar and beautiful mammals. As successful predators on the plains or in the mountains and jungles of the world, big cats play an important role in maintaining the overall health of prey...

SEALS & SEA LIONS are found in all the world's oceans, although they are at their most abundant in the coldest regions. The warmer seas such as the Caribbean and the Mediterranean have only a few left. Some have even become isolated in fresh water; the Baikal seal lives in a vast freshwater lake far from any other seals and endures some of the harshest winter conditions on Earth. From seals to sea lions, as well as the walruses and manatees, is a...

A comprehensive and fully illustrated guide, this book is the definitive photographic reference guide for anyone interested in butterflies and moths found in Britain and Ireland. Every species that occurs regularly in Britain and Ireland is included, along with a section dealing with the 'rarest of the rare' - extinct species or very rare immigrants. There follows the main section of the book, which covers our larger moths; every species that occurs...