A worm call Leucochloridium needs to reach a bird’s stomach in order to reproduce and spread in the bird’s waste. How it gets there sounds like science fiction! By infesting a snail’s eyestalks and controlling its brain, this parasite sends the snail into the open with eyestalks that now resemble caterpillars, which are a bird’s favorite snack. Readers are introduced to the poor zombie snail and its role in the parasite-host relationship. Full-color photographs showcase the incredible changes the snail undergoes once infected by the parasite. Fascinating fact boxes and main content offer readers the gross, but cool, details!
The essential one-volume reference to evolution The Princeton Guide to Evolution is a comprehensive, concise, and authoritative reference to the major subjects and key concepts in evolutionary biology, from genes to mass extinctions. Edited by a distinguished team of evolutionary biologists, with contributions from leading researchers, the guide contains some 100 clear, accurate, and up-to-date articles on the most important topics in seven major areas: phylogenetics and the history of life; selection and adaptation; evolutionary processes; genes, genomes, and phenotypes; speciation and macroevolution; evolution of behavior, society, and humans; and evolution and modern society. Complete with more than 100 illustrations (including eight pages in color), glossaries of key terms, suggestions for further reading on each topic, and an index, this is an essential volume for undergraduate and graduate students, scientists in related fields, and anyone else with a serious interest in evolution. Explains key topics in some 100 concise and authoritative articles written by a team of leading evolutionary biologists Contains more than 100 illustrations, including eight pages in color Each article includes an outline, glossary, bibliography, and cross-references Covers phylogenetics and the history of life; selection and adaptation; evolutionary processes; genes, genomes, and phenotypes; speciation and macroevolution; evolution of behavior, society, and humans; and evolution and modern society
In one indispensable volume, Matt Mogk, founder and head of the Zombie Research Society, busts popular myths and answers all your raging questions about the living dead.
The hilarious yet chilling account of the recent Zombie invasion of the United States and Mexico. Unable to guard itself the U.S. watches helplessly as its citizens are eaten, power plants, oil refineries and water supplies destroyed. In a moment of sobriety the President of the U.S. pleads with Laserman for his help. Fortunately Laserman accepts the challenge and proposes a devious yet ingenious plan to save planet earth, "Zombie World". Terrifying deserted cities where captured Zombies prowl darkened buildings and lurk in wretched alleyways as heavily armed humans stalk them. The spectacular hunts are a rage and telecast live across the U.S. Then something goes terribly wrong.
This witty, quirky, colourfully illustrated and fact-filled book features some of the most absurd and flamboyant animals on the planet! The second title in the series from the hilarious Philip Bunting is filled with facts about some of the weirdest creatures in the natural world. The antagonist voice (speaking though cheeky annotations) points out the apparent ridiculousness of each creature's features, while the narrator's voice describe the evolutionary reasons or advantages for each animal's extraordinary characteristics. With hilarious text throughout and bright, contemporary illustrations, this guide to ridiculous animals contains funny labelled diagrams and will help teach kids about evolution by studying some of its most wild products! Quirky Creatures is a series dedicated to seeking out the weird and wonderful denizens of the natural world and explaining why they are so strange, from the ridiculous to the truly terrifying. Also available in this series is The World's Most Pointless Animals and The World's Most Atrocious Animals.
With an ugly divorce behind her, Kat Anderson moves her two children to her hometown in upstate New York. Her new veterinary practice is thriving and all seems well in her new world. Then, the unthinkable; the animals begin acting strangely. The rodents are first: They begin moving about in daylight, losing all fear of human interaction. Later, they become aggressive. The news reports warn that people who are bitten also become violent. When the government takes over, the threat appears to be contained. Kat is thrown headfirst into the action when Travis, the game warden, brings her an infected coyote and a local hunter makes a frantic call for help with his hunting dogs. It's a brain parasite. It's killing the animals, and then reanimating them. It's a zombie outbreak but these aren't your movie zombies. The parasite is cunning, acting on the direction of a hive mind. They can think, learn, and employ very human tactics to infect the living and fulfill their biological imperative. They are the X Collective - subterfuge, camouflage, cunning, coercive, collective.... Kat learns that the dead are not the only threat in this new world and must navigate a lawless land while trying to keep her children safe. With a small group of survivors, Kat sets out to find a way to defeat the organism. To not simply survive, but to end the outbreak with both the odds and the numbers against them. How can one woman end a global pandemic? For Kat, the choice is clear. She will do whatever it takes to make the world safe for her family or she will die trying.
Contains over ninety weird-but-true stories reported on DamnInteresting.com, telling of alien hand syndrome, Nazi-thwarting Norwegians, the skyhook, and other oddities.
Enter the weird and wonderful world of creepy-crawlies. Our animal experts have unearthed 40 of the planet’s most bizarre species and ranked them in order of their oddness! With jaw-dropping facts and amazing photos, we reveal each creature’s seriously strange characteristics and the unusual ways they hunt, eat or defend themselves. They’re sometimes hard to spot, but there are a mind-boggling 10 billion billion bugs on the planet. Inside World’s Strangest Creepy-Crawlies, kids will discover the tiny terror that blows itself up to save its friends, a creature so well disguised even its own species can’t see it, and a giant spider the size of a dinner plate. And with our ‘strange-o-meter’, they can compare each animal based on its creepiness, fight factor and superpowers! Creepy-crawlies include: Elephant beetle Hickory horned devil Happy-face spider Zombie snail Leafcutter ant Froghopper Spiny devil katydid Goliath birdeater spider Giant weta Asian giant hornet Scorpion Death’s-head hawkmoth Bird-dung crab spider Exploding ant Other titles in the series include: - World’s Strangest Predators - World’s Strangest Places - World’s Strangest Ocean Beasts About Lonely Planet Kids: Come explore! Let’s start an adventure. Lonely Planet Kids excites and educates children about the amazing world around them. Combining astonishing facts, quirky humour and eye-catching imagery, we ignite their curiosity and encourage them to discover more about our planet. Every book draws on our huge team of global experts to help share our continual fascination with what makes the world such a diverse and magnificent place – inspiring children at home and in school. Important Notice: The digital edition of this book may not contain all of the images found in the physical edition.
Alone in her ramshackle house, 13-year-old Yolanda Mae Crick looks in the mirror and sees a boy's face instead of her own. Yolanda follows his reflection to the ancient world of Tessar, where she learns to use her extraordinary gift, the vision to see the truth. But will she ever find the real boy behind the reflection?
