Animal Snoops
The Wondrous World of Wildlife Spies
by Peter Christie
Meet the furry and fishy detectives of the wild.
You might not imagine that animals can be highly sophisticated spies and snoops, yet nature is filled with them. Scientists are discovering that creatures -- from bugs to baboons -- are experts at watching, listening and prying into the lives of other animals. This fascinating book investigates how animals use secret-agent skills to find a mate, locate food and outsmart predators.
Young readers can discover how clever male baboons intercept mating calls to sneak a secret rendezvous with a female and how whales use other whales' echolocation to zero in on a tasty snack. They'll also learn why knife fish use electricity to cloak themselves from predators and how sneaky gray squirrels build fake stashes of food to doublecross eavesdropping birds. Whether it's a rattlesnake ambush or a canary cage match, the stakes in wild spy games are always high.
With colorful illustrations and photos throughout, this book is an entertaining peek into the diverse undercover world of animal spies.
close this panelPeter Christie is an award-winning science writer and editor whose work has appeared in many newspapers and magazines. His previous books include The Curse of Akkad.
close this panelThis would be a great book for the little naturalist in your family.
Christie begins with an amusing anecdote about animal spies. After crooks burglarized a house they realized that the resident parrot learned their names and could rat them out. Alas, in the way of bumbling burglars when they returned to abduct the parrot the police were waiting and nabbed them. Although that's a good way to kick things off, most of these accounts are more closely related to patterns of finding food, selecting mates or escaping predators. Some might see these behaviors as basic survival techniques, but to grab attention, they are presented as sneaky and the animals are portrayed as spies. With big splashes of color, amusing computer-generated illustrations of animals in spy regalia, and large animal photographs on nearly every page, this may not satisfy homework assignments but it will attract browsers.
Nicely illustrated and accompanied with neat, live photos, this book provides a look at more than thirty animals and their spying and prying skills that enable them to survive in their environments.
This would be a great book for the little naturalist in your family.
This is an appealing presentation of intriguing animal facts.
This would be a great book for the little naturalist in your family.
This is an appealing presentation of intriguing animal facts.
