Wild Animals

A gorgeous illustrated picture book of collective noun names for our native New Zealand bird species

Accompanying a major 5-part BBC series presented by David Attenborough and produced by the team behind Planet Earth and Blue Planet, Perfect Planet is an exploration of the unique conditions that make life on earth possible, and how our wildlife is perfectly adapted to its enviro...nment. There is no place like home. The conditions of Earth are not just good for life, they are perfect. Everything about our planet - its size, its distance from the Sun, its spin and tilt, its moon - is perfectly suited to our existence, and our planet's forces serve to nurture its spectacular biodiversity. Perfect Planet shows in stunning detail how Earth has always been more than the sum of its parts. Unlike any other astronomical body, it is a living world. Focusing on four key natural forces - global weather systems distributing fresh water to all corners; marine currents delivering nutrients to the deepest reaches of the ocean; solar energy warming and electrifying everything it touches; and volcanic activity fertilizing the earth's surface - Huw Cordrey reveals to us new levels of this living world, a place populated with astonishing characters living remarkable lives. From Arctic wolves prowling moonlit landscapes or wood frogs, frozen in winter and magically thawing back to life, to flamingos flying thousands of miles to a vast volcanic lake in Africa to breed, we see time and again how animals are perfectly adapted to whatever the environment throws at them. Packed with over 250 full-color images, and including a foreword by David Attenborough and stills from the BBC series' spectacular footage, Perfect Planet is a stunning exploration of life on Earth - life that is increasingly precious and rare.
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When wildlife researcher Jonathan Slaght was a young Peace Corps volunteer in the Russian Far East, he caught a brief glimpse of a Blakiston's fish owl. It was the furthest south the species had been documented in over a hundred years, and a chance encounter that would change his... life. In Owls of the Eastern Ice, Slaght tells the story of his decades-long quest to safeguard the world's largest owl from extinction in Primorye, a remote Russian province dominated by Ussuri taiga forest, the only place in the world where brown bears, tigers and leopards co-exist. The fish owl lives exclusively along the rivers of Eastern Russia, Northeastern China, and Japan's Hokkaido Island, and can best be tracked in the winter snows, so very little is known about it. Now Russia's evolving fortunes, logging interests and climate change present new threats to the owl's survival. In this breath-taking nature and adventure story, Slaght recounts his experiences pursuing the owl through its forbidding territory, during months-long journeys covering thousands of miles, so that he and his fellow researchers can learn how to protect this endangered giant. Along the way he spends time with the Russians who inhabit the taiga and must survive in the harshest and most isolating of conditions. As much a portrait of the world's most extraordinary owl as of the Russian Far East itself, Owls of the Eastern Ice is a timely meditation on our relationship with the natural world and what it means to devote one's life to a single pursuit.
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Create a flourishing wildlife haven for a wide range of birds. Fill your garden with a variety of local birds by providing them with the environment they need to thrive. Birds need our help, as the numbers of many species are declining. And since it's been proven that listening t...o the calming trill of birdsong is good for us, it's a win-win situation if we give them a hand. You can support bird populations by providing a safe haven that has the best shelter, food, and nesting opportunities for them. How to Attract Birds to Your Garden shows you how to optimize your outdoor space for birds, providing the food and nesting spaces they need to survive. Discover the best plants to grow for food and shelter, which birdfeeders, feed, and nest boxes to buy and how to make them predator-proof, as well as how to encourage diversity and a broad range of bird species. No need to be an expert gardener already, or to break the bank - many of the most beneficial features can be installed easily and cheaply, and many you can build yourself or upcycle to be eco-friendly.
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Dilah is a young white fox who returns home to find his mother gravely injured. Before she dies, she tells him of a secret treasure with the power to make animals human. But wicked blue foxes want it too and will stop at nothing to learn its whereabouts ...