The Science of Animals: Inside their Secret World

336 Pages·2019·121.43 MB·english

by  DK

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T h e o f
S C I E N C E
A N I M A L S
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DK LONDON First published in Great Britain in 2019
by Dorling Kindersley Limited
Senior Editor Rob Houston Senior Art Editor Ina Stradins 80 Strand, London, WC2R 0RL
Editors Jemima Dunne, Steve Setford, Project Art Editors Simon Murrell,
Ruth O’Rourke-Jone, Kate Taylor Steve Woosnam-Savage Copyright © 2019 Dorling Kindersley Limited
Photographer Gary Ombler Design Assistants Briony Corbett, Bianca Zambrea A Penguin Random House Company
Producer, Pre-Production Rob Dunn Jacket Design Development Manager Sophia MTT 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Senior Producer Meskerem Berhane Jacket Designer Akiko Kato 001–310754–September/2019
Managing Editor Angeles Gavira Guerrero Managing Art Editor Michael Duffy
Associate Publishing Director Liz Wheeler Art Director Karen Self All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in
Publishing Director Jonathan Metcalf Design Director Phil Ormerod or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any
means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise),
without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
DK INDIA ISBN: 978-0-2413-4678-5
Senior Art Editor Chhaya Sajwan Senior DTP Designer Jagtar Singh Printed and bound in China
Art Editors Anukriti Arora, Shipra Jain, Jomin Johny DTP Designer Jaypal Singh Chauhan
Senior Managing Art Editor Arunesh Talapatra Production Manager Pankaj Sharma A WORLD OF IDEAS:
Senior Picture Researcher Surya Sarangi Pre-Production Manager Balwant Singh SEE ALL THERE IS TO KNOW
Project Picture Researcher Aditya Katyal www.dk.com
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Contributors
Jamie Ambrose is an author, editor, and Fulbright scholar with a special interest The Natural History Museum, London, looks after a world-class collection of over 80 million
in natural history. Her books include DK’s Wildlife of the World. specimens spanning 4.6 billion years, from the formation of the Solar System to the present
day. It is also a leading scientific research institution, with ground-breaking projects in more
Derek Harvey is a naturalist with a particular interest in evolutionary biology, than 68 countries. Over 300 scientists work at the Museum, researching the valuable collections
who studied Zoology at the University of Liverpool. He has taught a generation to better understand life on Earth. Every year more than five million visitors, of all ages and
of biologists, and has led student expeditions to Costa Rica, Madagascar, levels of interest, are welcomed through the Museum’s doors.
and Australasia. His books include DK’s Science: The Definitive Visual Guide
and The Natural History Book.
Esther Ripley is a former managing editor who writes on a range of cultural
subjects, including art and literature.
Half-title page Polar bear (Ursus maritimus)
Title page Seven-spot ladybird (Coccinella septempunctata)
Above Fireflies in a forest on the island of Shikoku, Japan
Contents page Blue iguana (Cyclura lewisi)
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contents
the animal skeletons skin, coats, senses
kingdom and armour
12 what is an animal? 64 communal skeletons 92 permeable skin 140 sensitive antennae
14 evolution 66 water skeletons 94 getting oxygen 142 sensory bristles
16 types of animal 68 external skeletons 96 toxic skin 144 small world
18 beetle diversity 70 exoskeletons on land 98 skin colour 146 sensory whiskers
20 fish and amphibians 72 chalky skeletons 100 forming a shell 148 sensing under water
22 reptiles and birds 74 internal skeletons 102 mollusc shells 150 tasting the air
24 mammals 76 aboriginal insights 104 vertebrate scales 152 sensing heat
26 prehistoric paintings 78 vertebrate skeletons 106 reptile skin 154 electrical sense
80 vertebrate shells 108 advertisement colours 156 detecting light
82 bird skeletons 110 in the mughal courts 158 pupil shapes
shape and size
84 cheetah 112 frills and dewlaps 160 compound eyes
86 mammal horns 114 weapons and fighting 162 colour vision
30 symmetry and asymmetry 88 deer antlers 116 blending in 164 seeing depth
32 forming colonies 118 lichen katydid 166 common kingfisher
34 radial symmetry 120 feathers 168 scent detection
36 symmetry in motion 122 flight feathers 170 smell in birds
38 the darwinists 124 display plumage 172 song birds
40 comb jellies 126 seasonal protection 174 smell in mammals
42 bodies with simple heads 128 mammal fur 176 how animals hear
44 sexual differences 130 expressionist nature 178 mammal ears
46 the renaissance eye 132 skin glands 180 listening for echoes
48 segmented bodies 134 horns from skin 182 common dolphin
50 vertebrate bodies 136 armoured skin
52 frog body form
54 shape shifters
56 large and small
58 fantasy beasts
60 tall animals
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mouths and jaws legs, arms, fins, flippers, wings and
tentacles, and tails and paddles parachutes
186 filter feeding 212 tube feet 252 nekton and plankton 278 insect flight
188 christmas tree worms 214 jointed legs 254 blue dragon sea slug 280 scaly wings
190 invertebrate jaws 216 vertebrate limbs 256 how fish swim 282 gliding and parachuting
192 injecting venom 218 vertebrate claws 258 underwater wings 284 how birds fly
194 vertebrate jaws 220 tiger 260 fish fins 286 lammergeier
196 bird bills 222 sticky feet 262 swimming with the dorsal fin 288 bird wings
198 bird bill shapes 224 raptor feet 264 four-winged flying fish 290 emperor penguin
200 art of the ornithologist 226 climbing and perching 266 venomous spines 292 hovering
202 carnivore teeth 228 mammal hooves 268 empire of abundance 294 egyptian birdlife
204 giant panda 230 alpine ibex 270 walking on the sea bed 296 wings of skin
206 eating plants 232 arthropod pincers 272 returning to water
208 flexible faces 234 artists of the floating world 274 tail flukes
eggs and offspring
236 swinging through trees
238 primate hands
240 orangutan 300 making eggs
242 octopus arms 302 fertilization
244 stinging tentacles 304 parental devotion
246 prehensile tails 306 polar bear
248 pintailed whydah 308 shelled eggs
310 bird eggs
312 marsupial pouches
314 from larva to adult
316 amphibian metamorphosis
318 reaching maturity
320 glossary
326 index
334 acknowledgments
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AMERICAN FLAMINGO Phoenicopterus ruber
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foreword
Beauty is alluring, truth is essential, and art is surely humanity’s purest reaction
to these ideals. But what of that other irrepressible human trait – curiosity?
Well, for me, curiosity is the fuel for science, which in turn is the art of
understanding truth and beauty. And this beautiful book presents a perfect
fusion of these paragons, celebrating art, revealing remarkable truths, and
igniting a curiosity for natural science.
In life, all form must have a function, it can be in transition, but it’s never
redundant. This means that from childhood onwards, we can study and
question the shapes and structures of natural forms and try to determine
what they are for and how they work. I remember examining a feather,
weighing it, preening it, bending it, twisting it to watch its iridescence flash
from green to purple, all the while working through a process of understanding
why it was an asset to bird flight and behaviour. Such investigation is perhaps
the most fundamental skill of a naturalist and the essential technique of a
scientist. And then I tried to paint it, its simple beauty the inspiration for art.
Natural forms also allow us to identify relatedness between species,
throwing light on their evolution, which in turn opens our eyes to how we
group them together. Of course there are tricksters – mammals with beaks
that lay eggs! It’s certainly fun to discover how our predecessors were fooled
by these strange anomalies, but it’s even more satisfying to uncover the truth
as to why animals evolved such apparently bizarre forms.
This book reveals that nature is not short of such fascinations and revels in
the joy that we can never completely satisfy our curiosities, as there is always
more to learn and know about life.
CHRIS PACKHAM
NATURALIST, BROADCASTER,
AUTHOR, AND PHOTOGRAPHER
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ani ma l
the
k ıngdom
animal. a living organism that is made
of many cells that usually collaborate to
form tissues and organs, and that ingests
organic matter – such as plants or other
animals – for nutrition and energy.
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