And Other Curious Truths About Animals

Why Pandas Do Handstands...

A collection of fascinating animal trivia

Weird, wonderful and witty. And best of all, it's all true. If you, like me, enjoy showing off how much more you know about arcane subjects than anyone else, this is a must have.

Deliciously moreish facts from the natural world.

South American rats settle arguments by boxing. Tuna fish sunbathe and herring communicate with each other by breaking wind. Llamas hum to each other, elephants impersonate traffic sounds and whales sing ballads. 
 
Strange new, scientifically proven facts about the animal kingdom emerge seemingly every day. Here, gathered together in one book, are hundreds of the funniest, most fascinating and plain bizarre things we have discovered about the non-human world. 
 
All animal life is here: from the only dog that can develop gout to the wren whose song sounds just like Beethoven. It is a book full of surprises. Who would have thought giraffes can't trot, reindeer 'fly' after taking magic mushrooms or that elk turn nasty when drunk? Who would have known that shark embryos attack, that caterpillars tap dance or that - out of our earshot - male mice are serenading their girlfriends with high-pitched love songs? 
 
And who on earth would have guessed that male pandas court potential partners by performing handstands?

Augustus Brown's fascination with the strange side of animal life began on the Welsh farm where he grew up surrounded by cows that could sense rain, highly-combustible sheep and chickens that could easily be hypnotised. As a journalist and author, he has since written and contributed to numerous books, many on animal behaviour. In researching this book, he drew on scientific archives, books and studies, scores of zoological and biological websites and consulted leading experts in the animal science world. The most surprising thing he learned was that many animals frequently get drunk. The least surprising thing he learned was they get into trouble when they do so. 
 
Augustus Brown lives in London with his wife and two children, overlooking a park filled with creatures whose innocent appearance no longer fools him.

South American rats settle arguments by boxing. Tuna fish sunbathe and herring communicate with each other by breaking wind. Llamas hum to each other, elephants impersonate traffic sounds and whales sing ballads. Some kangaroos grow on trees. 
 
Strange new, scientifically proven facts about the animal kingdom emerge seemingly every day. Here, gathered together in one book, are hundreds of the funniest, most fascinating and plain bizarre things we have discovered about the non-human world. 
 
All animal life is here: from the only dog that can develop gout to the wren whose song sounds just like Beethoven, from the cattle that generate electricity to the worm that has the power to brainwash. It is a book full of surprises. Who would have thought giraffes can't trot, reindeer 'fly' after taking magic mushrooms or that elk turn nasty when drunk? Who would have known that shark embryos attack, that caterpillars tap dance or that - out of our earshot - male mice are serenading their girlfriends with high-pitched love songs? And who on earth would have guessed that male pandas court potential partners by performing handstands?

Augustus Brown

Dogs can smell electricity. Cats can heal bones by purring. Kittens can contact their mothers via a secret, ultra-sonic language. Dogs can understand a vocabulary of 200 human words. 
 
Every day, it seems, new scientific discoveries are fuelling the age old argument about which of man's two best friends really is the superior species. Augustus Brown fans the flames further with this collection of the weirdest, most wonderful and downright incredible of these truths about cats and dogs. Did you know, for instance, that dogs can see moving objects 900 yards away, and that cats can sense earthquakes coming? Or that dogs prefer Bach to Britney, while cats prefer drugs to chocolate? 
 
Fascinating, funny and provocative, his book may not settle the debate once and for all. But it is certain to set cat and dog lovers arguing like, well you know what...

Play It Again, Tom

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