A compendium of over 150 of the most unusual mammals, birds, insects and plants on earth, this book introduces the reader to the pitcher plant, the giant weta, the strangler fig, the pangolin and the flashlight fish. It tells about moths that eat tears, birds that walk on water, birds that drink blood, rodents that bark and organisms that change their sex. It aims to settle the arguments about whether eels can electrocute people and what is really in a camel's hump.