Search results for ""Natural History Museum""

The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is the most famous and prestigious event of its kind in the world. It provides both an inspiring annual catalogue of the wonders of nature and a thought‑provoking look at our complex relationship with the natural world. These are the unforgettable highlights from the latest Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, drawn from more than 50,000 entries from across 27 countries. They include each of the category winners and incorporate all aspects of wildlife photography, from animal portraits to Earth’s environments. For each photograph there is a caption that reveals the memorable story behind the picture and, for some, members of the international jury share their insightful thoughts. Twenty-five striking photographs from the competition’s People’s Choice vote are also included. The foreword to the collection is by the new chair of the competition’s jury, Kathy Moran, the former Deputy Director of Photography at National Geographic Magazine. Displaying different styles, techniques and ways of seeing, this collection is a celebration of all aspects of nature.

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The Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition is the most famous and prestigious event of its kind in the world. It provides both an inspiring annual catalogue of the wonders of nature and a thought-provoking look at our complex relationship with the natural world. These are the unforgettable highlights from the 2022 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, drawn annually from around 45,000 entries from dozens of countries. They include each of the category winners and incorporate all aspects of wildlife photography, from animal portraits to Earth’s environments. For each photograph there is a caption that reveals the memorable story behind the picture and, for some, members of the international jury share their insightful thoughts. Twenty-five striking photographs from the competition’s People’s Choice vote are also included. The foreword to the collection is by the chair of the competition’s jury, Rosamund Kidman Cox, an editor and writer specialising in wildlife and environmental imagery.

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The Cenozoic era began about 70 million years ago and still continues. In British Cenozoic Fossils 354 species from this period are classified and illustrated with accurate line drawings. This new edition has been fully revised and updated by John Todd, Curator of Molluscs in the Natural History Museum's Life Sciences Department, reflecting advances in our understanding of the fossil record over the past years. The book's 88-page identification section features those fossil animal and plant species that are most commonly found in Britain, from early plants, corals and fishes to gastropod and bivalve molluscs and the remains of mammals which lived in Britain during the Ice Ages. Each of the species is illustrated with at least one drawing, which is accompanied by details of where it can be found. There is a brief introduction to the subject, stratigraphical tables that show British Cenozoic rock formations, and a colour map of the distribution of Cenozoic strata.

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Inspired and approved by the experts, The Bumper Dinosaur Activity Book is bursting with engaging activities for curious young minds. Packed with exciting games and bite-size facts which make learning fun, featuring T. Rex, Stegosaurus, Diplodocus and many more. The book is crammed with dinosaurs to colour and make and things to do, including dot-to-dot games and spot-the-difference puzzles, and brilliant stickers.

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Hope is the new icon of the Natural History Museum, a stunning 9,000 pound, 82-foot-long blue whale skeleton. Suspended by steel wires and captured in a majestic swooping posture, her reconstruction is a work of art as well as a feat of engineering. Her story begins in 1891 when she was found beached off the coast of Ireland. A lucrative find for a local fisherman, her skeletal remains were sold to the Museum. The project to restore her took three years to complete, including 10 months of painstaking laboratory work to clean and repair each of her 221 bones. Combining the latest scientific research into the blue whale with behind-the-scenes imagery, this book sheds new light on the largest creature ever to have lived on Earth.

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MEET DIPPY: Dippy is a Diplodocus (DIP-low-DOCK-us). Dippy was the first of its kind to go on display anywhere in the world when it arrived at the Museum more than a hundred years ago. Since then, Dippy has adventured across the length and breadth of the country. MEET WATERHOUSE: Waterhouse the Mouse lives in the Museum and thought he knew about everything within its famous walls. Until one day he meets a gigantic bony stranger and a big booming voice... When railroad workers unearthed the fossilised bones of a Diplodocus in Wyoming, USA in 1899, newspapers billed the discovery as the ‘most colossal animal ever on Earth’. Dippy, a replica of this famous skeleton, first arrived in London in 1905, and for many years served as an awe-inspiring welcome for visitors to the Natural History Museum. This book answers all your questions about the nation’s favourite dinosaur and will delight young readers with its imaginative illustrations.

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This is the story of plant life on Earth, uniquely retold through a remarkable record of spectacular fossils. Palaeobotanist Paul Kenrick explains the importance of each fossil and how it marks a crucial inflection point in plant evolution. Each discovery is illustrated with special photography featuring many original specimens from the Natural History Museum, London. Beginning with the origins of plant life in the sea, when photosynthesis first evolved in bacteria, Paul Kenrick traces the evolution of plants, through ancient forests and grasslands to familiar flowering plants. From petrified tree trunks to grains of pollen, the breadth of the geological record of plants is quite extraordinary and what emerges are forms that are at first puzzling yet frequently striking and beautiful. The story of each specimen is interwoven with impressions of the Earth's landscapes and environments at various periods of geological time, revealing the dynamic feedback between plants and animals as well as large-scale planetary processes.

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The names of plants that are so familiar to us −magnolia, bougainvillea, sequioa − may just be names, but behind the names lie stories of espionage and heroism, rivalry and mystery and inspiration. In the Name of Plants relates the stories of these people and the plants that were named after them. Each chapter tells the story of the person for which each plant is named, many of whom were pioneering explorers, collectors and botanists – such as Alice Eastwood who has the yellow aster, Eastwoodia elegans, named after her. Eastwood explored previously uncharted territories in the 19th century and famously saved the California Academy of Science's priceless plant collection from the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. Subjects range from Charles Darwin (Darwinia) and legendary French botanist Pierre Magnol (Magnolia), to US founding fathers George Washington (Washingtonia) and Benjamin Franklin (Franklinia). Each entry is accompanied by superb artworks from the Library of the Natural History Museum, as well as photography of specimens and wild plants and the essential taxonomic details and geographic spread for each species.

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When did the first humans arrive in Britain? Where did they come from? And what did they look like? This is the amazing story of human life in Britain. It begins nearly one million years ago, during the earliest known human occupation, and reveals how humans have periodically lived there ever since. Britain: One Million Years of the Human Story takes readers on an incredible journey through ancient Britain. Drawing on a wealth of evidence from archaeological sites, it reveals which human species lived in Britain during multiple waves of occupation. It describes who they were, what their habitats were like, which animals shared their landscape, and what they did to survive, from the first use of fire to specialised hunting. It shows how Britain's human occupants changed, adapting and often succumbing to dramatically changing climate and landscapes. The story is told by Rob Dinnis and Chris Stringer, two scientists at the forefront of research into our ancient ancestors. Together they describe the discoveries, the key fossil specimens and the science behind these remarkable findings.Written in a lively and engaging style, and fully illustrated with maps, diagrams and photographs, Britain: One Million Years of the Human Story is an invaluable guide to our early human relatives. The book is based on the ground-breaking work of the Ancient Human Occupation of Britain project and is published to tie in with a major new exhibition opening at the Natural History Museum in February 2014.

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Join Britain's much-admired monarch on one of her rare days-off, as she and her loveable pet corgi Mr Brown enjoy an action packed adventure at London's Natural History Museum. Beautifully illustrated and affectionately told, the book is great to read aloud and is also highly suited to encourage children to read on their own.

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This is a collection of powerful images from past years of the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition - the most famous and prestigious event of its kind in the world. Taken by photographers who are skilled in storytelling and reportage, each image carries with it an unforgettable story, often a message about the current state of the natural world. Sometimes these involve individual characters, but always there is a bigger story behind the immediate one. Such images require not only photographic skill but also an intimacy with the subject and considerable research and dedication. They have been taken by more than 50 award-winning photographers representing nearly 20 countries.

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Nature's Explorers celebrates the individuals who made great personal endeavours in order to document the natural world. Their findings revolutionised our understanding of nature and gave birth to the modern fields of geography, evolutionary biology, oceanography and anthropology. From ground-breaking theorists such as Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace to evocative artists like Ferdinand Bauer and John James Audubon, these explorers shared an ambition to illuminate new worlds and each embodied the spirit of the Enlightenment and the Scientific Revolution.

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Amber is a remarkable substance that originates from the resin of trees that lived millions of years ago. Anything that became trapped in this sticky resin was fossilized and perfectly preserved. The insects and other inclusions found in amber today are providing scientists with unique insights into the history of life on Earth. In this new edition of "Amber", Andrew Ross provides an engaging overview of this prehistoric substance and its fossilized inclusions. The book explains how amber is formed, where it is found and how to distinguish genuine amber from fakes. It describes its many uses, both in art and science, and recounts the elusive search for DNA from fossilized insects. Detailed keys and stunning photographs, including previously unseen pieces of Burmese amber from the Museum's collections, guide the reader in the identification of species of insects and other amber inclusions. "Amber" is essential reading for all those with an interest in this natural time capsule.

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This commemorative portfolio displays all the 100 pictures awarded in the 2022 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, together with the stories of what they reveal and how they were created. Representing the work of photographers worldwide, they illustrate both the beauty and drama of the natural world and our conflicted relationship with it. Chosen by an international panel of judges from around 50,000 entries, the images are the work of photographers from dozens of countries and represent a worldwide range of styles and ways of seeing nature. You will find a rich variety of subjects, from wild regions, remarkable behaviour and portraits of creatures you may never have seen before, to reportage of vitally important ethical and environmental issues. Adding depth are the background stories – not just about how the pictures were made and the equipment used but also information about the subjects and why the photographers chose them.

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This commemorative portfolio displays the gallery of all the 100 pictures awarded in the 2021 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition, together with the stories of what they reveal and how they were created. Representing the work of photographers worldwide, they illustrate both the beauty and drama of the natural world and our conflicted relationship with it. Chosen by an international panel of judges from around 50,000 entries, the images are the work of photographers from dozens of countries and represent a worldwide range of styles and ways of seeing nature. You will find a rich variety of subjects, from wild regions, remarkable behaviour and portraits of creatures you may never have seen before, to reportage of vitally important ethical and environmental issues. Adding depth are the background stories - not just about how the pictures were made and the equipment used but also information about the subjects and why the photographers chose them.

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Tony Hutson illuminates the nocturnal world of bats and examines how they have adapted to habitats in every corner of the world. Beginning with the fossil record and what it reveals about their relationship to other mammals, Hutson discusses their unique aerodynamics and their extraordinary feats of echolocation. He discusses their life cycle, diet and foraging strategy, breeding, roosting, and migration patterns as well as their predators, parasites, and man-made threats to their ecosystem. Bats are long-lived mammals which can form enormous colonies containing tens of millions of creatures, a concentration of mammals paralleled only by human cities. Topically, the book looks at the viruses harboured and tolerated by bats and their impact on humans. The book also contains an appendix of bat families and subfamilies and gives details of the number of genera or species, distribution, size, roost habitat and diet.

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For more than 50 years, the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition has championed honest and ethical wildlife photography, while pushing the boundaries of artistic freedom, technical skill, and narrative excellence. This powerful collection of pictures features all the winning photographs from the 2018 competition. The collection represents the work of many international photographers, both professionals and amateurs. The photographs are chosen by an international jury for their artistic merit and originality, from categories that represent a diversity of natural subjects. The range of styles is diverse, as is the genre of photography, including action, macro, underwater, landscape, or environmental reportage. Each photograph is accompanied by an extended caption and there is an introduction by one of the world's most respected nature photographers.

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The Birds of America is one of the best known natural history books ever produced and also the most valuable - a complete set sold at auction in December 2010 for GBP7.3 million, which is a world record for a book. First published in double elephant size (approximately a metre tall) in the first half of the nineteenth century, it is famous for its stunning life-size illustrations of birds set within landscaped backgrounds. The book was issued inparts over 11 years and only around 200 completed sets were ever produced. Less than 120 of these survive today, locked away in museums, galleries and private collections around the world. To create this edition of Audubon's masterpiece, the Natural History Museum's own original edition was disbound and each of the 435 beautiful hand-coloured prints was specially photographed. The artworks are accompanied by the scientific descriptions that were used in the original The Birds of America and there is also a new introduction by David Allen Sibley.

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These are some of the most breathtaking images from Weather Photographer of the Year, the annual competition held by The Royal Meteorological Society. They depict thrilling weather events of every kind and often reveal fascinating stories about their impact on human society. Each image has been selected by a panel of meteorologists, photographers and photo editors who look for a combination of skillful camera work and meteorological observation. Also included are six essays which address various aspects of climate change, not least its impact on extreme weather.

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Another fantastic adventure in the animal kingdom for readers aged 5 to 500. Join the Queen on one of her rare days-off, as she and her loveable pet corgi Mr Brown enjoy an action-packed adventure at the Natural History Museum in London. Find out what really happened to the dinosaurs all those years ago, what the Queen is doing on top of a Megalosaurus and who wins a famous victory. Beautifully illustrated and affectionately told, this is a delightful tale of two close friends and their eventful day with the dinosaurs.

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This lavishly illustrated book reveals the lives of the people who assembled the greatest botanical collection of the Early Modern period, with stories of adventure and discovery across every continent. Sir Hans Sloane's herbarium, housed at the Natural History Museum in London, is probably the most extensive herbarium collection of its kind. It exemplifies the rich history of exploration and discovery in the period preceding Cook's voyages, and it remains of considerable scientific and historical value today. Assembled between the 1680s and 1750s, it comprises an estimated 120,000 pressed plant specimens. More than 300 people contributed to its development across more than 70 countries.

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The Flora Collection contains 50 stunning colour postcards selected from the vast collection of original botanical artworks held at the the Library of the Natural History Museum, London. Stored in a chunky keepsake box with an internal ribbon, this collection represents the fascinating history of plants and flowers through exquisite botanical prints to keep, send or frame. Printed on high quality card, the set showcases many of the best-loved plant families including cacti, daffodils, iris, magnolia, poppies, roses, tulips and waterlilies. Featuring the work of some of the greatest botanical artists and explorers of all time, The Flora Collection is a delightful box set to share or savour.

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An instant bestseller in 1859, few books have had such a revolutionary impact and left such a lasting impression as On the Origin of Species. Possibly the most important and challenging scientific book ever published, Darwin's language remains surprisingly modern and direct and is presented here in a faithful facsimile edition. The text is taken from the second edition (1860), which is the same as the first except for some minor corrections and so is the purest distillation of Darwin's original vision. It includes a new foreword by David Williams, Researcher at the Natural History Museum,and the introductory appendix, An Historical Sketch of the Recent Progress of Opinion on the Origin, which first appeared in the third edition (1861). As such it is an ideal scholarly resource as well an attractive and excellent value edition for the general reader.

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Volcanoes & Earthquakes features the earth sciences at their most spectacular. It reveals the massive internal forces that create and change the Earth's surface, with dramatic and sometimes beautiful consequences. The authors explain what fuels the power of volcanoes and earthquakes and explore how the gradual shifting of tectonic plates has transformed the Earth over its four and a half thousand million year existence. Written in a jargon-free style and fully illustrated with photographs, diagrams and maps, this is a cutting-edge introduction to earthquakes, volcanoes and plate tectonics, incorporating all the latest research developments.Chiara Maria Petrone is a Research Leader in Petrology and Volcanology in the Earth Sciences Department of the Natural History Museum, London. Roberto Scandone is a Research Associate at the Vesuvius Observatory, National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology, Naples. Alex Whittaker is a Senior Lecturer in Tectonics in the Department of Earth Science and Engineering at Imperial College, London.

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Enter a hidden world of snail killers, silly names and crazy sex in The Secret Life of Flies. Entomolologist Erica McAlister dispels many common misconceptions and reveals how truly amazing, exotic and important these creatures really are. From hungry herbivores and precocious pollinators to robberflies, danceflies and the much maligned mosquito, McAlister describes the different types of fly, their unique and often unusual characteristics, and the unpredictable nature of their daily life. She travels from the drawers of wonder at the Natural History Museum, to piles of poo in Ethiopia, via underground caves, smelly latrines and the English country garden. She discovers flies without wings, rotating genitalia and the terrible hairy fly, while pausing along the way to consider today's key issues of conservation, taxonomy, forensic entomology and climate change. Combining her deep knowledge and love of flies with a wonderful knack for storytelling, Erica McAlister allows us to peer - amazed and captivated - into the secret life of flies.

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Presenting the year's very best wildlife images, this powerful collection of pictures represents the work of many international photographers, both professionals and amateurs. It comprises all the winning and commended photographs from the Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2013 competition, the most prestigious event of its kind in the world. The photographs are chosen by an international jury for their artistic merit and originality, from categories that together represent a diversity of natural subjects. The range of styles is also diverse, as is the genre of photography, whether action, macro, underwater, landscape or environmental reportage. Together this outstanding collection is a reminder of the splendour, drama and variety of life on Earth. Each stunning photograph is accompanied by an extended caption and there will be an introduction by one of the world's most respected nature photographers.

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The Malay Archipelago is a vivid, momentous and far-reaching account of Alfred Russel Wallace's eight-year exploration of South East Asia in the 1850s and 60s. Wallace's travels led him to conceive of evolution through natural selection independently of Charles Darwin, and their theories were jointly proposed in a paper to the Linnean Society in 1858. During his travels he accumulated an astonishing 125,660 specimens, including more than 5,000 species new to western science, establishing his reputation as the 19th century's leading expert on the geographical distribution of animal species and the "father of biogeography". This handsome facsimile has been reproduced from Wallace's personal copy of the 10th edition which includes a number of handwritten annotations made by Wallace himself. This edition was published in 1890, 28 years after the first, and has additional information from subsequent collectors and footnotes in which Wallace corrects some earlier errors. It features illustrations by contemporary artists Thomas Baines, Walter Hood Fitch, John Gerrard Keulemans, E. W. Robinson, Joseph Wolf and T. W. Wood, and includes two fold-out colour maps of the archipelago, one showing the routes he took and the other the volcanic belts in the region. There is also a new foreword by Sandra Knapp, President of the Linnean Society (2018-2022).

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This is the story of the dinosaurs, uniquely retold through 50 of the most significant findings from the fossil record. Each entry is illustrated with special photography of original specimens that illustrate both the history of dinosaur discovery and key evolutionary events. Palaeontologist Paul M. Barrett explains the importance of each fossil and how it marks a crucial inflection point in an evolutionary dynasty that ruled the Earth for more than 150 million years. The book is divided into themed sections, beginning with dinosaur ancestors before introducing all the major dinosaur groups and moving on to the distinctive aspects of their biology such as feeding, distribution, locomotion and behaviour. The final section focuses on the first fossil birds including the legendary Archaeopteryx, the feathered dinosaur that is widely considered to be the first bird species.

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Each year the Wildlife Photographer of the Year exhibition is seen by millions through a global tour and international media coverage. Portfolio 29 displays the full collection of 100 images awarded in the 2018 competition. Selected by an international jury for their artistic merit and originality from more than 40,000 entries, they represent the work of almost 100 nationalities. Displaying different styles, techniques, and ways of seeing, the collection is both a showcase for photographers who specialize in documenting the natural world and a celebration of nature.

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This most memorable and surprising collection of wildlife imagery reveals the beauty and drama of the natural world, as well as the incredible stories behind the photographs. It showcases all 100 pictures awarded in the 2023 Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition and contains a huge variety of subjects and styles. Chosen by an international jury from 50,000 submissions, the collection represents the work of photographers from across 27 countries, with images that range from tiny living gems to dramatic and sometimes disturbing vistas. Highlights include unforgettable images of animal behaviour, extraordinary underwater scenes and reportage of our complex relationship with the natural world. Among the most imaginative pictures are those taken by young photographers, from Israel to India, to China and New Zealand. Every image is accompanied by a description of the behaviour on display, the biology involved and the ethical and conservation issues relevant to each of these remarkable scenes.

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From ice storms to fire rainbows, this is an A to Z guide to the earth's spectacular weather phenomena. Each entry has been crafted by experts at The Royal Meteorological Society, and many are illustrated with dramatic imagery from their annual Weather Photographer of the Year competition. As well as providing precise scientific and geographic detail, the entries often reveal the folklore that surrounds certain weather events and how they have affected human culture.

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The fully revised 3rd edition of this state-of-the-art guide to dinosaur biology. From the Victorian golden age of dinosaur discovery to the cutting edge of twenty-first century fossil forensics Dinosaurs unravels the mysteries of the most spectacular group of animals our planet has ever seen. Despite facing drastic climatic conditions including violent volcanic activity, searing temperatures and rising and plunging sea levels, the dinosaurs formed an evolutionary dynasty that ruled the Earth for more than 150 million years. Darren Naish and Paul Barrett reveal the latest scientific findings about dinosaur anatomy, behaviour, and evolution. They also demonstrate how dinosaurs survived the great extinction at the end of the Cretaceous Period and continued to evolve and thrive alongside us, existing today as an incredibly diverse array of birds that are the direct descendants of theropods. Dinosaurs is lavishly illustrated with specimens from the Natural History Museum's own collections, along with explanatory diagrams and charts and full-colour artistic reconstructions of dinosaur behaviour.

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This charming book revolves around the two journals Bates produced during his groundbreaking travels in the Amazon, and his classic work The Naturalist on the River Amazons. Alongside specially selected excerpts from his book are facsimile reproductions of the pages from his journals demonstrating his talents as an artist as well as a scientist. Bates, a trusted companion of Alfred Russel Wallace, travelled with him to the Amazon in 1848. There he became fascinated by close similarities in appearance between unrelated butterflies. He found that so-called tasty species - those that are sought after by predators - had evolved to look like toxic species to escape being attacked. This idea became known as Batesian mimicry. Bates spent a total of 11 years in the Amazon, exploring the vast network of largely unvisited major rivers and their tributaries, set in the world's largest area of tropical rain forest in South America. By the time he returned to England in 1859, still only 34 years old, Bates had collected, by his own estimate, some 712 species of mammals, reptiles, birds, fishes and molluscs, and about 14,000 species of insects, of which no less than 8,000 were previously unknown.

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What's the difference between a swallow and a swift? How many species of ducks, penguins, owls or thrushes are there? Which is the rarest parrot or the most endangered hummingbird? What do toucans eat? Discover all the key facts about the world's orders and families of birds with this ultimate handbook. Expert ornithologist Jonathan Elphick provides a comprehensive survey of every one of the 36 orders and 234 families of birds, revealing their remarkable diversity, appearance, behaviour and lifestyle. With clear, lively text, informative fact boxes that include the latest research and data, and special photography from award-winning wildlife photographers such as David Tipling, The Handbook of Bird Families belongs on the shelf of everyone interested in birds.

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Encounter life on Earth millions of years ago with Age of the Dinosaur. Packed with bite-size facts and exciting prehistoric puzzles, it explains what the world looked like and how it changed, which incredible creatures, plants and animals lived there, who survived to live another day, and how scientists know all this. Each colourful double-page spread explores a different dinosaur subject, from a particular period of time or group of animals to dinosaur diets and the study of fossils. Meet the world's first known bird and the deadly animal that may have terrified the terrible T. rex. Discover who lived when and who ate what in fun dinosaur quizzes and games. Find out why all the dinosaurs disappeared forever and who survived after they were gone. With eye-catching illustrations and photographs of specimens from the Museum's palaeontological collections, this is a great first book about dinosaurs and the world in which they lived.

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"Fragile Web" is a remarkable exploration of the past, present and future of nature's remarkable diversity and how humans will impact upon its uncertain future. Written by a team of international experts, the book is divided into three main sections. The first section explores the origins of biodiversity and the evolution of life on Earth, from 3.5 billion years ago to the present day. It explains how species are formed, including the complex role of genetics, and how diversity hotspots such as the Amazonia region and Sahara desert have developed. The second section examines ecology and how human activities can foster rather than threaten biodiversity. It explains the importance of the world's ecosystems and how they function, and suggests how we can enjoy and appreciate nature to the full. In the final section, Fate, the book discusses the major threats to our natural world, both now and in the future, and considers possible solutions. Fully illustrated with photographs diagrams and maps, "Fragile Web" provides a timely snapshot of the state of life on Earth and considers what may be next for our natural world.

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Whether loathed, feared, admired or worshipped, snakes evoke stronger human reactions than almost any other animal. Moving gracefully without limbs, swallowing meals often several times larger than their own heads, and with many having venomous bites, they never fail to fascinate. From garter snakes and vipers to cobras, boas and pythons, Snakes describes the biology and natural history of this ecologically diverse and important group of animals. It highlights the amazing variety and complexity of this group that includes more than four thousand living species. Information on habitat, conservation status, and behaviour are also included to complete this comprehensive and fully illustrated introduction to the snakes of the world.

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For centuries the natural life of the British Isles has captured the imagination of both artists and scientists. The Art of British Natural History explores the many different ways in which Britain's flora and fauna have been documented, from engravings and watercolours to ink and charcoal drawings.The Art of British Natural History is illustrated with over 100 specially selected artworks from the collections of the Natural History Museum's Library and Archives. Together these images span 300 years of British history and include the works of major figures such as William MacGillivray, Moses Harris, Edward Wilson and Ernest Mansell. Andrea Hart's accompanying essay reveals that these images are both beautiful to look at and have also played a crucial role in advancing scientific knowledge in Britain. She also traces how these images have influenced the history of printing, art, and popular culture.

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This update to the bestselling 50 Years of Wildlife Photographer of the Year features 20 stunning new images which have come from the last 5 years of the competition. They showcase the advances that continue to be made in approach and technique. Featuring many of the greatest nature photographs of all time, this book charts the development of nature photography, from the first hand-held cameras and the colour film revolution of the 1960s, to the increasingly sophisticated photographs of wild animals and unexplored places that are taken today. The prize-winning images include ground-breaking portraits, breathtaking aerial shots, underwater photography, close-up imagery and much more. They are accompanied by captions that put the photographs in context, explaining their importance, and revealing the vision, talent, passion and technique of the world’s leading wildlife photographers. All those who are passionate about photography and who have followed this compelling competition since its inception 55 years ago will treasure this magnificent volume.

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First published in 1814, Werner's Nomenclature of Colours is a taxonomic guide to colour which been cherished by naturalists and anthropologists for over two centuries. In the late 1790's Abraham Gottlob Werner devised his own standardised colour scheme, which allowed the writer to describe even the subtlest of chromatic differences with consistent terminology. His scheme was then adapted by an Edinburgh flower painter, Patrick Syme, who traced the actual minerals described by Werner, and used them to create the colour charts found in the book. In the pre-photographic age, almost all visual details had to be captured using the written word, and scientific observers could not afford any ambiguity in their descriptions. These included Charles Darwin, for whom Werner's Nomenclature was an indispensable tool during his seminal voyage on the Beagle. Werner's Nomenclature of Colours is a charming artefact from the age of explorers, which continues to be treasured by artists and scientists alike.

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A stunning box-set for all bird lovers, containing an illustrated hardback and 36 beautiful prints.

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Our Human Story is a guide to our fossil relatives, from what may be the earliest hominins such as Sahelanthropus, dating back six to seven million years, through to our own species, Homo sapiens. Over the past 25 years there has been an explosion of species' names in the story of human evolution, due both to new discoveries and to a growing understanding of the diversity that existed in the past. Drawing on this new information, as well as their own considerable expertise and practical experience, Louise Humphrey and Chris Stringer explain in clear and accessible terms what each of the key species represents and how it contributes to our knowledge of human evolution.

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With their beautiful wing patterns and colours butterflies immediately catch our attention. Of all creatures, they exemplify metamorphosis with the creeping caterpillar transforming into a soaring butterfly. But they have also come to be creatures of science, revealing much to biologists about evolution and the ecological processes and historical accidents that have generated the diversity of life on Earth.In Butterflies leading expert Dick Vane-Wright provides a complete introduction to the biology, natural history and classification of this major group. Using examples from around the world and eye-catching photographs, he explores what it means to be a butterfly, from how the yellow birdwing finds a mate to why the African gaudy commodores produce adults of different colours.Fully revised and updated with new photographs and the latest reserach, this reformatted edition offers an overview of the biology and diversity of the major group of day-flying Lepidoptera.

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Shells are exoskeletons of living creatures and have fascinated humans for millennia. Interesting Shells presents portraits of beautiful specimens from the Natural History Museum's vast collections, each accompanied by a caption explaining their unique characteristics - whether biological, historical or geographical.

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