Bats by Phil Richardson, The Natural History Museum/Smithsonian (Plymbridge Distributors, tel: 01752 202301), 拢9.95, ISBN 0565091670
PHIL RICHARDSON has created the perfect antidote to the bad PR that horror films have lavished on bats. And boy do we need that antidote: there are millions of bats flying around. Not many people realise that a fifth of all mammal species are bats.
Bats range from sparrow to eagle-like in size. And they eat just about anything: our most familiar bats are insectivores, but there are carnivorous bats that feed on frogs, birds and fish, and the vegetarian bats feast on fruit and pollen. This provides Richardson with rich pickings for his photo-illustrated feature tour of bat groups around the world.
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This is the book that was missing when I started working on neotropical bats鈥攁 book designed to be opened in the middle while covering the basics on bat life histories, habits and living with bats. It is as if your favourite natural history magazine did an extensive special issue on these much-maligned mammals, complete with sidebars and captions to elucidate suction-cup thumbs and strange-looking faces.
Educators, your curious child, and natural history buffs alike will appreciate the accessible coverage, and the ability to tell a microbat from a megabat. And, although it may disappoint the horror fans, Richardson even includes the truth about vampire bats. Becca Shapley catches bats in the tropical rainforest