SHORTLISTED CBCA BOOK OF THE YEAR AWARDS 2022 - EVE POWNALL AWARD Come along for another fresh take on the animal kingdom from bestselling author and illustrator, Sami Bayly. Discover 60 of the most peculiar pairs in nature and learn how plant and animal species rely on each other for their survival. Whether it be a rare tick living in the fur of a pygmy possum, a stick insect feasting and hiding out amongst the Melaleuca or a handfish laying its eggs on a sea squirt, incredible natural relationships deserve to be explored and celebrated. Investigating all types of relationships, from symbiotic to parasitic, this is an eye-opening guide to the natural world. Many species steer clear of those who are different, but the animals and plants in this book have evolved to form relationships with some of the most unlikely partners, and they couldn't live without them. This gorgeous hardcover book is illustrated in exquisite detail by award-winning author and illustrator, Sami Bayly. The perfect companion to The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ugly Animals and The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals.

Marvel as you enter a fascinating hidden world of animals in this encyclopaedia of the animal kingdom's most unusual and so-called 'ugly' species. It's time to see ugliness in a whole new light! With more than sixty animals to explore, this compendium of the unusual celebrates the beauty in 'ugliness'. Children and adults alike will pore over the breathtaking scientific illustrations of unusual animals, discovering why these creatures developed such extraordinary features and learning about science and nature along the way. Featuring illustrations and facts about the thorniest species the animal kingdom has to offer, from the naked mole rat to the goblin shark, aye-aye, blobfish and many more. This gorgeous book is illustrated in exquisite detail by debut artist, Sami Bayly.

Discover more than 60 of the world's most dangerous animals and the facts behind their bad reputations, including the highly venomous Brazilian wandering spider and the truly terrifying Tasmanian Devil. The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals is a fascinating compendium of the strange and the dangerous of the animal kingdom. Did you know that African buffaloes have good memories and have been known to attack people who have hurt them in the past? And that piranha fish can smell a single drop of blood in 200 litres of water? Have you heard of the carnivorous caterpillars of Hawaii? But don't panic - these animals are not actually out to get us! They have simply evolved some amazing features to protect themselves from predators, including us humans. With detailed illustrations to pore over, curious children (and the adults in their lives) will love discovering the facts behind the bad reputations of these truly fascinating creatures. From the talented author and illustrator of The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of 'Ugly' Animals, Sami Bayly.

Make way for the world’s weirdest, most wonderful creatures—from the author of the forthcoming A Curious Collection of Dangerous Creatures Publisher’s Note: A Curious Collection of Peculiar Creatures was previously published in Australia as The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ugly Animals. What’s your favorite animal—a majestic lion, a graceful horse? Those are great choices, but have you considered the fangtooth moray eel? It has two rows of icicle-shaped teeth! And the monkey slug caterpillar is ready to cuddle . . . just look out for the stingers all over its body (and its six limbs that technically aren’t legs)! It’s true, these animals are a little different—but their unusual features often give them incredible superpowers. Take the nearly blind star-nosed mole: Its pink, flower-shaped nose can detect the microscopic texture of everything it touches, and it does this at warp speed—up to 12 objects per second! What’s more, many of these weird, wonderful creatures need our help: They’re endangered, and we can’t afford to ignore their well-being any longer. It’s time to find a peculiar creature to love! Why not the blobfish?

Plunge into the diversity of the animal kingdom in this Encyclopaedia of Animals. Packed with over 500 creatures, every one is looked at in detail by a natural history expert. From the tiniest sponge to the largest elephant, all entries are gloriously illustrated in this spectacular celebration of life on Earth.

From the goliath tigerfish to the Asian hornet to the wolverine—here’s a visual treasure trove of the scariest and most dangerous animals on the planet

From addled to wind egg and crossed beak to zygote, the terminology of everything chicken is demystified in The Chicken Encyclopedia. Complete with breed descriptions, common medical concerns, and plenty of chicken trivia, this illustrated A-to-Z reference guide is both informative and entertaining. Covering tail types, breeding, molting, communication, and much more, Gail Damerow provides answers to all of your chicken questions and quandaries. Even seasoned chicken farmers are sure to discover new information about the multifaceted world of these fascinating birds.

Heartwarming, surprising, and downright bizarre creature connections Relationships can be complicated, and it’s no different in the wild. Meet 60 dynamic duos across the plant and animal kingdom—from “aww” to “eek”! The Eltham copper butterfly and the Notoncus ant are BFFs for life. The ants lovingly raise the butterflies’ caterpillar babies, while feasting on the sweet substance the caterpillars produce. Everybody wins in this prime example of mutualism. The pseudoscorpian is a total freeloader. When it wants to get around, it boards the back of the giant harlequin beetle, in a one-sided setup called commensalism. Parasitism is where things get spooky. Learn how the green-banded broodsac (a type of flatworm) first invades the eyestalk of the amber snail, then tricks it into getting eaten by a bird—inside which the broodsac will grow up. Yikes! Award-winning author and illustrator Sami Bayly shows us a whole world of wild companions like these—many endangered—and reminds us that we’re all inseparable.

Here is a book that challenges the very basis of the way psychologists have studied child development. According to Urie Bronfenbrenner, one of the world's foremost developmental psychologists, laboratory studies of the child's behavior sacrifice too much in order to gain experimental control and analytic rigor. Laboratory observations, he argues, too often lead to "the science of the strange behavior of children in strange situations with strange adults for the briefest possible periods of time." To understand the way children actually develop, Bronfenbrenner believes that it will be necessary to observe their behavior in natural settings, while they are interacting with familiar adults over prolonged periods of time. This book offers an important blueprint for constructing such a new and ecologically valid psychology of development. The blueprint includes a complete conceptual framework for analysing the layers of the environment that have a formative influence on the child. This framework is applied to a variety of settings in which children commonly develop, ranging from the pediatric ward to daycare, school, and various family configurations. The result is a rich set of hypotheses about the developmental consequences of various types of environments. Where current research bears on these hypotheses, Bronfenbrenner marshals the data to show how an ecological theory can be tested. Where no relevant data exist, he suggests new and interesting ecological experiments that might be undertaken to resolve current unknowns. Bronfenbrenner's groundbreaking program for reform in developmental psychology is certain to be controversial. His argument flies in the face of standard psychological procedures and challenges psychology to become more relevant to the ways in which children actually develop. It is a challenge psychology can ill-afford to ignore.

Learn about ugly animals and how their strange bodies help protect them.