"Throughout the summer in northern
countries, swallows are seen where there
are plenty of flying insects - their main
food - which they catch while flying. In
the autumn, however, the birds leave."
Aristotle thought that swallows hibernated. Naturalists even believed that they actually hibernated underwater, in ponds and lakes. In December 1912, after being fitted with an identity ring, that bird was found in South Africa and scientists finally realized that the swallows migrated.
In the ABOVE section of the book, readers will learn about the following: Atlantic Puffin, Snow Leopard, Spanish Mountain Flower, Rocky Mountain Goat, Yellow-Rumped Leaf-Eared Mouse, Peregrine Falcon, Yellow-Footed Rock Wallaby and Barn Swallow. In double page spreads, information is provided for these plants and animals that can be very hard to see unless you like climbing rocks. Short paragraphs are accompanied by exceptional linocut prints that show each in clear detail. I thought I recognized a few, but others were brand new to me.
Moving on to BELOW, where plants and animals live out of sight of prying eyes, Michael Bright wants his audience to know about the Olm, the Basking Shark, the White-Nest Swiftlets, the Mole, the Western Underground Orchid, the Brown Rat, the Common Eel, and the Mariana Snailfish. While I was sure I knew a few, I was surprised to learn much more than I had known prior to reading this book. Did you know the star-nosed mole is the fastest-eating mammal on earth? Or that the eel changes color as it ages ... to yellow and then later to silver? I love learning new things.
As if that wasn't enough, Mr. Bright finishes with LONG AGO, about which I knew very little. In this section, readers will meet the Ammonite, the Megalodon, the Jurassic Oyster, the Trilobite, the Coelacanth, the Horseshoe Crab, the Ginkgo Tree, and the Tuatara. I did think I knew something about the Horseshoe Crab. Wrong!
"First appearing about 450 million years ago, horseshoe crabs are included as living fossils, but they are not crabs - they're more closely related to spiders."
Back matter includes a world map, and places each included subject on it with a description of its location. Following the map, there is a glossary, a very interesting description for the making of the illustrations by Jonathan Emmerson, and finally, a useful index.
"Imagine a great white shark that’s almost twice as long as a bus, with jaws that could swallow a fully grown person whole, and teeth as big as your hand ..."
What can it be?
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