Every November, Christmas Island red crabs take over Christmas Island as millions march to the shores of the Indian Ocean. These crawling critters stop at nothing to reach their mating grounds. They halt traffic and even fall from cliffs! This title is filled with facts, maps, and fascinating graphics that take readers through the rain forest to the ocean with Christmas Island red crabs.
It was supposed to be a myth. An urban legend. The ultimate adventure experience, unlike anything else in the world. The legendary Crab Island. Its reputation precedes it, yet no one really knows anything about the place, including its location.But that's not stopping Andy Hudson. Internet fame awaits the person who first uploads pictures and videos from the mysterious location, and Andy is determined to be that person. With best mate Leigh in tow, he has travelled to the far corner of Panama in search of this Holy Grail.But the island is secret for a reason. A deadly reason. And when Andy and Leigh, together with three likeminded tourists, do find their way to the infamous island, they have no idea the danger that waits. Not even when the waters surrounding the island fill with thousands of dinner plate sized shapes with curious oval eyes, long spindly legs and a sharp, curved claws, do they realise the peril they are in. But it won't take long for them to learn the true reason so little is known about the place, because nobody ever leaves the Island of the Crabs...
The Literary House Press at Washington College publishes a range of general interest books and scholarly monographs. Its publications present literary, scientific, historic, journalistic, environmental, and public policy writings of the Chesapeake Bay region. As publisher for Washington College, the press also publishes scholarly monographs written by faculty or taken from lecture series at the college. In addition, Literary House Press publishes works of literary merit without regard to subject or setting. Through the voice of their mother, the author of this enchanting memoir, the Jander family speaks to us across half-a-century about a world that is no more. Running water, indoor plumbing, and electricity were little more than dreams when the Jander family settled on tiny Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay. To leave the pressures of urban life behind, the Janders moved to the island during World War II and remained there as the children grew up and departed. Anne Jander began her memoir in 1943 and completed it in 1952. She died ten years later, and her family decided, after another thirty years, to seek its publication.
Here is the inspiring story behind the Veterans Day red poppy, a symbol that honors the service and sacrifices of our veterans. When American soldiers entered World War I, Moina Belle Michael, a schoolteacher from Georgia, knew she had to act. Some of the soldiers were her students and friends. Almost single-handedly, Moina worked to establish the red poppy as the symbol to honor and remember soldiers. And she devoted the rest of her life to making sure the symbol would last forever. Thanks to her hard work, that symbol remains strong today. Author Barbara Elizabeth Walsh and artist Layne Johnson worked with experts, primary documents, and Moina's great-nieces to better understand Moina's determination to honor the war veterans. A portion of the book's proceeds will support the National Military Family Association's Operation Purple®, which benefits children of the US Military.
Interest in land crabs has burgeoned as biologists have increasingly focused on the evolution of terrestriality. Before the publication of this volume in 1988, there had been no single comprehensive source of information to serve biologists interested in the diverse aspects of terrestrial decapod crustacean. Biology of the Land Crabs was the first synthesis of recent and long-established findings on brachyuran and anomuran crustaceans that have evolved varying degrees of adaptation for life on land. Chapters by leading researchers take a coordinated evolutionary and comparative approach to systematics and evolution, ecology, behaviour, reproduction, growth and molting, ion and water balance, respiration and circulation, and energetics and locomotion. Each discusses how terrestrial species have become adapted from ancestral freshwater or marine forms. With its extensive bibliography and comprehensive index, including the natural history of nearly eighty species of brachyuran and anomuran crabs, Biology of the Land Crabs will continue to be an invaluable reference for researchers and advanced students.
2012 Reprint of 1958 Edition. Exact facsimile of the original edition, not reproduced with Optical Recognition Software. The blurb on the thirty-five cent Ace paperback likens Charles Eric Maine's 1958 novel "World Without Men" to George Orwell's "1984" and Aldous Huxley's "Brave New World." Ordinarily one would regard such a comparison skeptically. Nevertheless, while not rising to the artistic level of the Orwell and Huxley masterpieces, "World Without Men" merits being rescued from the large catalogue of 1950s paperback throwaways. Maine's bases his vision of an ideological dystopia not on criticism of socialism or communism per se, nor of technocracy per se, but rather of feminism. Maine saw in the nascent feminism of his day (the immediate postwar period) a dehumanizing and destructive force, tending towards totalitarianism, which had the potential to deform society in radical, unnatural ways. Maine believed that feminism, as he understood it, derived its fundamental premises from hatred of, not respect for, the natural order. He also believed that feminism entailed a rebellion against sexual dimorphism.
The world's nearly 7,000 species of crabs are immediately recognizable by their claws, sideways movement, stalked eyes, and thick outer shells. These common crustaceans are found internationally, thriving in various habitats from the edge of the sea to the depths of the ocean, in fresh water or on land. Despite having the same basic body type as decapod crustaceans-true crabs have heavy exoskeletons and ten limbs with front pincer claws-crabs come in an enormous variety of shapes and sizes, from the near microscopic to the giant Japanese spider crab. In Walking Sideways, Judith S. Weis provides an engaging and informative tour of the remarkable world of crabs, highlighting their unique biology and natural history. She introduces us to recently discovered crabs such as the Yeti crab found in deep sea vents, explains what scientists are learning about blue and hermit crabs commonly found at the shore, and gives us insight into the lifecycles of the king and Dungeness crabs typically seen only on dinner plates. Among the topics Weis covers are the evolution and classification of crabs, their habitats, unique adaptations to water and land, reproduction and development, behavior, ecology, and threats, including up-to-date research. Crabs are of special interest to biologists for their communication behaviors, sexual dimorphism, and use of chemical stimuli and touch receptors, and Weis explains the importance of new scientific discoveries. In addition to the traditional ten-legged crabs, the book also treats those that appear eight-legged, including hermit crabs, king crabs, and sand crabs. Sidebars address topics of special interest, such as the relationship of lobsters to crabs and medical uses of compounds derived from horseshoe crabs (which aren't really crabs). While Weis emphasizes conservation and the threats that crabs face, she also addresses the use of crabs as food (detailing how crabs are caught and cooked) and their commercial value from fisheries and aquaculture. She highlights other interactions between crabs and people, including keeping hermit crabs as pets or studying marine species in the laboratory and field. Reminding us of characters such as The Little Mermaid's Sebastian and Sherman Lagoon's Hawthorne, she also surveys the role of crabs in literature (for both children and adults), film, and television, as well in mythology and astrology. With illustrations that offer delightful visual evidence of crab diversity and their unique behaviors, Walking Sideways will appeal to anyone who has encountered these fascinating animals on the beach, at an aquarium, or in the kitchen.
