Author(s): Katherine Rundell

Animals | Claire's Book Talkers

A gloriously illustrated and fascinating bestiary of the world's most extraordinary endangered animals - a treasure trove of vanishing wonders.

A pangolin's tongue is longer than its body. It keeps it furled in a nifty pouch near the hip.

A swift flies 200,000 miles in its lifetime. That's far enough to get to the moon and back - then back to the moon.

There's a fable that storks deliver babies. In fact, the Nazis used them to air-drop propaganda.

Each of these animals is extraordinary. And each of them may soon disappear from the earth.

A lavishly illustrated compendium of the staggering lives of some of the world's most endangered animals, The Golden Mole is a chance to be awestruck and lovestruck - to fall for the likes of the wondrous Pygmy Hippo, the seahorse, the narwhal and, as astonishing and endangered as them all, the human.

CONSTANT READER STAFF REVIEW - CLAIRE

Just when I thought my admiration and love of Katherine Rundell’s work could become no greater, this unassuming little book came along and proved me very wrong indeed! (I practically inhaled the first half in a single sitting…) An anthology of the animal kingdom that is wholly and gloriously unique, it blends natural history and literature; environmentalism and ethics; and intelligence with humour. It is a book that will astound even the wildest imaginations, that will bring forth tears of both despair and amusement. In our current social landscape, where human attention is an increasingly rare commodity, this is a call to arms of sorts – a plea to notice the countless marvels that surround us at every single moment. So, I implore you, make yourself comfortable with a cup of tea (or two) and embark on this beautiful exploration of a world so strange and so wondrous, that we can barely begin to fathom its surface within our short lifetimes.