sea serpents 90
sea skaters 409
sea slugs 316
sea spiders 329, 357
sea urchins 98, 100
sea wasps 91
seabirds 298–301
seagulls 138, 238n, 293n
seals 77–80, 163, 357
secretary bird 239
segmentation 135, 143, 330
Serengeti 86–7, 333
sex see also reproduction
arrow worms 206
bootlace worm 155
clams 304
flatworms 105
flowers 423
lions 56
penis worms 171
praying mantis 397
rotifers 217–18
slugs 19, 20–1
thorny-headed worms 223
velvet worms 136–7
sexual display 22–3
sexual selection 220–1
sharks 90, 405–7, 434–7, 442, 443
Sharpe’s grysbok 86
shearwaters 298
sheep 22, 86
shells 295–7, 314–15, 322
shoebills 226, 318n
short-tailed pygmy tyrant 318
shrews 158, 208n, 234–5, 334
shrimps 418
Siberian tiger 63
Silent Spring 382
silk 352–3
The Silver Chair 174, 262, 428
silver Y moth 439
simplicity 177, 222
singing 26, 168–70, 177, 325–8, 377
Sipunculids 210–11
sirens 393
sitatunga 87
six-spot burnet moth 438
size, Bergmann’s rule 312
skates 443
skua 298
skylarks 319, 326
slime 20, 136, 156
slow worms 342, 354
slugs 19–21, 37, 38, 129, 280, 316
Smith, Ed 159
snails 19, 37, 106, 166, 280, 322–4
snake eagles 230n
snakelocks anemone 81
snakes 91, 126, 340–3, 348–50
snout beetles 455
snow buntings 317
snowy owls 244
soaring 238n, 300
social hierarchies 70 see also colonies
solifugids 358
song thrushes 287, 326
songbirds 327 see also singing
Soricomorpha 158
South America 132 see also Brazil; Colombia
Spall, Timothy 130
Spanish dancer 316
sparrowhawks 236, 237, 239
sparrows 319
specialism 118
species
endemic 319n
fuzzy definition 26–7
new discoveries 25–6
number 27 see also diversity
sperm whales 90, 276
spider crabs 337
spider monkeys 43
spiders 33, 46, 331–2, 340, 351–3, 357–8, 431–2
Spinochordodes tellini 193
sponges 58–60, 65–6, 177
spookfish 442
sport 214
spotted hyena 69
springboks 86
springhares 154
squid 90, 273–4, 275, 276, 283
squirrels 153n
Sri Lankan blue magpie 319
St Frances de Sales 196n
starfish 98, 99, 100
starlings 319–20
stars 157, 160
Steinbeck, John 280–1n
sterility 25–6
stingrays 444
stone curlews 153n
storks 225
strap-shaped hairy-backs 228
stridulation 373
subfamilies 38
subspecies 94n
sucking 409
Suffolk 145, 146–7, 214, 270, 319, 349
sun spiders 358
sunflowers 113n
Surinam toad 378
survival
adaptation 119, 121–2, 167n, 223
natural selection 40, 355, 386n
swallow-tailed hummingbird 264
swallows 30, 259
swallowtail butterflies 440
swans 291–2
swifts 30, 252n, 257–9
swimming 39–41, 79, 412
symbions 241–2
symbiosis 72, 73–4, 82, 304, 428
symmetry 98, 99, 105, 183, 316
Systema Naturae 30
systematics 29, 30
tadpoles 367–9
takahe 305, 306
Tanzania 43, 86, 269, 333
tapetum 153
tapeworms 113–15
tar baby termites 403
tarantula 91
tardigrades 120, 121
Tasmanian tiger 189
tawny owls 245–6, 252–3
taxonomy
changes 30–1, 94n, 268, 335–6
fish 407
invertebrates 45–6
names 365n
overview 28–32, 36–7
reptiles 335–6
tayra 77
teal 293
teddy bears 62, 145n
teeth
aardvarks 116–17
carnivores 63, 79
jawless fish 458
kangaroos 191
rodents 102, 130–1
sharks 435–6
teleology 223
tender trap 118
tennis 84
tentacles 20, 89, 266–7, 274, 276, 289, 399
termites 101, 117, 118, 401–4
terns 251–2
terrapins 362
Testudines 362
Tetrapodomorpha 458
theories 151n
Thomas, Jeremy 371, 373
thorny-headed worms 222–3
thread snake 342
thrushes 287, 319, 326
thylacine 189, 190
ticks 359
tigers 63
Tiktaalik 458
time 457–8
Titanoboa cerrejonensis 342
toads 377
toco toucan 224
tongues 164, 321, 342–3, 355
torpor 252n, 264
Torrey Canyon disaster 83
tortoises 362
toucans 224
trains 111
Travels with My Aunt 139, 196–7
tree frogs 378
tree snakes 343
Trichoplax adhaerans 176–7
true bugs 409
tsetse fly 380
tungara frog 378
Turbellaria 105
turtles 360–2, 363
Tyler, Mary 28
ubiquity 127, 128
Ulysses 202, 215n, 223, 262, 296, 327n
uniqueness 24, 116, 176
vampire bats 184–6
vascular systems 99
velvet worms 134, 135–7
venom 91, 208, 341, 342, 359, 444
Venus elegans 315n
Venus’s flower-basket 66
Venus’s girdle 183
Verne, Jules 273, 274
vertebrates 39
viperids 341
virgin birth 26, 121, 136, 217
Virginia opossum 22, 189
Voltaire 83n
Vonnegut, Kurt 369n
vulture bees 424
vultures 238–9
wagtails 320
wallabies 191
Wallace, Alfred Russel 347, 446–7, 449
wallcreeper 318n
walrus 78n
warblers 325–7
wasps 50–2, 129, 430–1
water 39–40
water bears 119, 120, 121–2, 134
water voles 147–8
waterbirds 142, 292–4, 375–6
Watership Down 132
Watson, Lyall 174
waxbills 320
weasels 63, 77, 92n
webs 352–3
Weddell seal 79–80
weevils 454–6
werewolves 122
whale sharks 435, 437
whales
blue whale 89, 163, 173, 273, 321, 338
krill 338
migration 252
orcas 27, 164
porpoises 163
sperm whales 90, 276
whipworms 128
whitethroats 26
Whitman, Walt 145, 311
whooper swan 291
whydahs 318
wigeons 293
wildebeest 86–7, 252, 334
wildlife corridors 110, 111–12
Wilson, Edward O 287
Wimbledon tennis tournament 84
The Wind in the Willows 147
Withnail and I 423
Wodehouse, PG 393
wolf spiders 331–2
wood owl 246
woodlice 329, 338
woolly mammoths 110
worms
acoelomorphs 260–1
annelids 142–4, 282n
bootlace worm 89n, 155
earthworms 149–52
flatworms 104–7, 150
jaw worms 247–8
Loa loa 72–3n, 104, 128
nematodes 127–9
nematomorphs 193–4
peanut worms 210–11
penis worms 171, 172
ribbon worms 144, 155–6
tapeworms 113–15
thorny-headed worms 222–3
xenoturbellids 254–5
wrens 305
wrong end of the stick 59
xenoturbellids 254–5
Yangtze river dolphin 174–5
Yeats, WB 292n
yellow-billed stork 225
Yersina pestis 140
Yoon, Carol Kaesuck 435n
Zambia see also Luangwa Valley
bees 424
birds 25–6, 319n
lechwe 93
spiders 330–1
termites 402, 404
wildebeest 86
zebras 53–4, 85
Zen poetry 248–9
Zimbabwe 203
zooids 160–1
zooplankton 91, 339
Marble Arch Press
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Copyright © 2014 by Simon Barnes
Originally published in 2014 in Great Britain by Short Books.
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Atria Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
First Marble Arch Press hardcover edition February 2015
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for.
ISBN 978-1-4767-3035-6
ISBN 978-1-4767-3036-3 (ebook)