atlas obscura: wild life: a curious human’s guide to our astonishing natural world

From the bestselling authors of Atlas Obscura and Gastro Obscura comes a nature book like no other--a dazzling, over-the-top collection of the world’s most extraordinary wild species that takes you to all seven continents and beyond. It’s more than a field guide-it’s an adventure.

From the curious minds of Atlas Obscura, authors of #1 New York Times bestselling Atlas Obscura and Gastro Obscura, comes an unputdownable celebration of the world’s living wonders.

• Learn how dung beetles navigate by the stars, and trees communicate through their roots.
• Meet one of the strongest animals in the world: the puny peacock mantis shrimp.
• Pay your respects to a 44,000 year old shrub, float along flying rivers, and explore a garbage dump overseen by endangered storks.
• Examine old examples of bird song notation written on sheet music.
• Also, first person interviews: hear from a honey hunter and his avian partners, a scientist working to find the world’s only ocean-dwelling insects, and an offshore radio DJ who is at the heart of the local fishing community.

Featuring over 500 extraordinary plants, animals, and natural phenomena, with illustrations and photos on every page, the book takes readers around the globe--from Antarctic deserts to lush jungles, and into the deepest fathoms of the ocean and the hearts of our densest cities. Teeming with detail and wildly entertaining, Wild Life reinvigorates our sense of wonder, awe and amazement about the incredible creatures we share our planet with.

Atlas Obscura is the definitive guide to the world’s hidden wonders. Based on the community-driven, editor-curated website atlasobscura.com, Atlas Obscura uncovers unusual and overlooked places not found in your average guidebook. Cofounders Joshua Foer and Dylan Thuras are two of the authors of the # 1 New York Times bestselling book Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders.