“We live in a world of such marvels. We should wake up in the morning and as we put on our trousers, we should remember the seahorse, and we should scream with awe and not stop screaming until we fall asleep, and the same the next day and the next. Each single seahorse contains enough wonder to knock the whole of humanity off its feet, if we would but pay attention.”
Did you know that Greenland sharks can live for five hundred years? Or that the golden mole, the only iridescent mammal, is blind and cannot see its own shininess? Do you enjoy hoarding random animal facts to share whenever a conversation needs livening up? Then this might be the book for you! Each chapter is an essay about a different endangered or threatened animal, from spiders to giraffes to wombats. Using achingly beautiful prose, Rundell extolls the uniqueness of each creature, then explains the ways in which human activity threatens its existence. The book functions very well as a collection of fun facts, but it truly shines as a call to action. Rundell encourages readers to pay attention to the animal world around us, to let ourselves marvel at these creatures, and do what we can to preserve their beauty.
This was a quick, engaging read. The chapters were short, self-contained, and full of fascinating information. I recommend it to anyone interested in animals and conservation, or to that one family member who is constantly dropping facts about spiders at the dinner table.
