Weird, Wild, Amazing! Desert: Exploring the World's Incredible Drylands

Book excerpt: Internationally renowned author and scientist Tim Flannery explores Earth’s deserts and grasslands and the extraordinary animals that live in them. Are zombie ants real? How high can an armadillo jump? What’s it like to wrestle a python? Tim Flannery has the answers. In this informed and accessible book, he introduces some of the most spectacular and unusual creatures in our planet’s deserts and grasslands with in-depth and often-bizarre facts. Flannery ties together concepts of climate change, evolution, conservation, and taxonomy throughout each animal’s profile, firmly connecting it to its environment while sparking wonder at its role in the natural world. Packed with vibrant illustrations and guided by real-life anecdotes from one of our greatest science communicators, Weird, Wild, Amazing! Desert teaches readers to cherish and delight in our planet’s ecosystems with Flannery’s signature mix of humor and wisdom.