Animals are truly inspiring creatures. Take, for example, the male Emperor Penguin, a model of devoted fatherhood, who spends his winter in the frozen Antartic balancing a single, precious egg on the top of his feet. Or perhaps contemplate the romantic male hammerhead bird, who builds a series of enormous and elaborate nests for his partner, for no apparent reason other than to strengthen the pair’s emotional bond.
However, the truth is that most creatures are not such paragons of virtue. To redress this imbalance, Self-Harming Parrots and Exploding Toads will look at some of Mother Nature’s less noble qualities, and answer such vile questions as:
* Which bird kills its enemies by vomiting on them?
* Why do vultures defecate on themselves?
* Why is it so hard to poison rats?
* And what happens at a dung beetle wedding?
It is the must-have collection of disgusting trivia, packed with fascinating facts about the animal kingdom, for anyone who lacks a proper sense of reverence for nature’s wonders!
Published in the US as Why Dogs Poop
David Haviland is a writer, editor, and ghostwriter, with a number of bestselling books to his name, which have been sold to publishers all over the world and widely serialised.David has written a number of books of amusing trivia and popular science. The most recent, How To Remove A Brain (Summersdale, 2012), is a collection of fascinating stories and anecdotes concerning the history of medicine and health. This book was previously published by Penguin in the US as Why You Should Store Your Farts in a Jar.David's next book is a myth-busting guide to history, revealing the truth behind many...
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