Sami Bayly says she loves animals, but especially unusual ones. All the better if they are scaly, slimy, wrinkly or just ugly, and especially, as in this case, ones that behave in unusual ways.
Her latest book is all about animals who use camouflage and mimicry. We learn about the different ways animals might hide themselves, from smells to sound to appearance among others. We meet the veiled chameleon. Their skin has tiny cells called chromatophores, which hold colour. They can shrink or expand these depending on their mood. The buff-tip moth blends in the branches of a tree. They have evolved to even look like a broken twig. There is a spider who looks like a ladybird. Ladybirds contain a toxin so birds stay away and our spider is safe from being dinner too.
‘Hmm, a hint of dog poo, a note of rotting flesh and a stench of vomit – this must be a stinkhorn fungus.’ Native to Australia this fungus tricks flies into thinking it is food. The flies land and get sticky, slimy spores all over their feet, then zoom off helping the stinkhorn to grow in other places. The burrowing owl makes the sound of a rattlesnake to scare away potential threats. This little thorn bug is part of 3200 treehopper species. This species have grown to be able to mimic ants, hornets and thorns. Both the bird-dropping spider and bird poo frog have evolved to look like bird poo. Who would want to eat that?
As in other books by Bayly, How We Came To Be: Creatures of Camouflage and Mimicry is packed with information, all of it fun and fascinating, bursting with her colourful illustrations. A fabulous book that will help any child see the wonder of our world.
Reviewed by Merle Morcom
Age Guide 5+
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ABOUT THE AUTHORSami is 27 years old and is currently based in Newcastle, NSW.
She has released 5 books, 3 of which are part of The Illustrated Encyclopaedia series: The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ugly Animals, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals and The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Peculiar Pairs in Nature.
With her 4th and 5th being the first of a newly released series: How We Came To Be – Surprising Sea Creatures and How We Came To Be – Creatures of Camouflage and Mimicry.
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