Deadly Beautiful

Vanishing killers of the animal kingdom

This entertaining book deals with an endlessly fascinating subject in a new, unique way. Humans have always had an ambivalent relationship with deadly animals. For most people they arouse fears and even phobias, yet perhaps the real risks are not quite as large as they loom in the public imagination.

Deadly Beautiful offers an entertaining portrait of some of the main dangerous animal species with which humans have a love–hate relationship. Clear, up-to-date, scientifically accurate information about the natural history of these species is presented in a broadly accessible style, examining their day-to-day existence, how they have developed the weapons they possess and how they use them for defence, for hunting and for making love.

Woven into the text are accounts of people’s close encounters with deadly animals — the good, the bad and the bizarre — as well as stories from myth and legend that have contributed to modern perceptions. In addition, realistic risk assessments are included, often in a gently humorous way; for example, how much more likely you are to die in your bed than be killed by a shark. A beautiful illustration opens each chapter.

AUTHOR/ILLUSTRATOR

Dr Liana Joy Christensen was for five years editor of the wildlife and natural resources magazine Landscope. She has worked extensively with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), earning from them a citation for excellence in science journalism. Her nature essays have regularly appeared in anthologies and magazines such as Australasian GEO, and been excerpted in translation for both German and Korean GEOs. Her work is published in literary and scientific journals around the world, including Tawain, North America, the Netherlands and India.

Ian Faulkner is an illustrator, cartoonist and cartographer with over 25 years experience and a passion for natural history. He has been artist in residence at the Australian National University, and also cartographer at Australian Geographic Magazine, as well as undertaking work for The Australian Museum and Sydney’s Taronga Park Zoo.