Life in the Undergrowth
Starred Review.A companion to a new television program on Animal Planet, this wonderful exploration of invertebrates exceeds the requirements for a great nature book through the strength of its photographs and the quality of its prose. It helps that veteran naturalist and author Attenborough (The Life of Birds) brings the enthusiasm of an animal lover and the knowledge of a polymath to his goal: tracing the broad history of the development of "this vast invertebrate world, which constitutes by far the greatest numbers of both species and individuals on earth." His material is arranged in five chapters ranging from the first "invasion" of land by invertebrates to the complex "supersocieties" that many have developed. Along the way he describes literally hundreds of species, such as the "cartoon-like" velvet worm, the "cartwheel" mating position of dragonflies and the exploding "suicide bombers" of theGlobotermesant family. Each page of text offers at least one remarkable description, further enhanced by the 275 photographs; minuscule cameras and new optical systems make it possible to provide elegant glimpses of invertebrates "behaving normally and in intimate detail." One of the most striking of these photos (used on the jacket) is an extreme closeup of a bug-eyed yet almost human-looking damselfly.(Feb.)Correction: Chris Ballard, the author ofThe Butterfly Hunter: Adventures of People Who Found Their True Calling Way Off the Beaten Path(Reviews, Jan. 2), is a current staffer atSports Illustrated.Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.