Ben Hoare - Natures Treasures: Tales Of More Than 100 Extraordinary Objects From Nature

Writt en by Ben H oare Illustrated by Kaley McKean

Introduction... ....................... Nature s trea sures ... ............ Noticing nature .................... ANIMALS Bird egg ................................ Bird eggs ...............................1 Hatching turtle .................... Mermaids pu rse .................. Frog spawn ..........................2 Feather ................................ Feathers ............................... Dragonfly wings ................. Butterfly scale .................... Shed snakeskin ...................3 Alpaca w ool ........................ Fish scale ............................. Scallop shell ........................ Shells .................................... Giant shell .......................... Coral ske leton ..................... Cicada case ........................44 Chry salis ............................... Sea urchin test ...................48 Invertebr ate skel etons ......5 Wol f sk eleton ...................... Ver tebrate ske letons ......... Antlers .................................. Squid beak .......................... Elephant tooth ...................60 Tee th .................................... Shark teeth ......................... Baleen .................................. Keratin ................................. Puffin beak .......................... Beaks .................................... PLANTS, FUNGI, A ND AL GAE Fall leaf ................................ Leaf skeleton ...................... Leaves ................................. Cactus spines ...................... Potato ..................................84 Oak gall ............................... Eucalyptus bark .................8 Flower ..................................90 Flowers ................................. Pollinator at work ............... Pollen grain ......................... Cotton boll ..........................

Cocoa pod ......................... F ruits ................................... Burdock burr ..................... Pine cone ........................... Thistledown ....................... Chestnut ............................. Seeds ................................... Sprouting seed .................. Tum bleweed ...................... Paper l antern case ........... Toa dstool ........................... Bladder wrack ...................122 MINERALS AND RO CKS Diamond ............................ Gems .................................. Geode ................................. Snowflake ...........................132 Amber ................................. Oyster pearl ...................... Pyrite .................................. Metal ores ......................... Coal .................................... Chalk .................................. Flint..................................... Obsidian ............................ Vol canic rocks ................... Vol canic eruption ..............152 Petrified wood .................. Fossil ....................................156 Fossils ................................. Fulgurite ............................ Meteorite .......................... MADE B Y NA TURE Honeycomb ....................... Songbird nest ................... Bird nests ........................... Paper w asp nest ................ Potter wasp p ot ................. Caddisfly case ................... Dung beetle ball ...............1 Owl pellet .......................... Spider w eb ........................ Ambergris .......................... GLOSSAR Y ......................... INDEX ................................. ACKNOWLEDGMENT S .....

Wherever we l ook in the w orld, there are natural treasure s to be found. This is a book about the many wond erful things made by an imals, plants, and the Earth itself . In these pages, y ou will find dazzling fe athers, armored fruit, extr aordinary eggs, bristly teeth, leaf skeleton s, glittering gems, ancient fo ssils, exploding seeds, super-sticky webs , rocks from outer space, and much, much more. Yo u will disc over w here to find these intriguing items, how they work , and how people use them. Every fascinating object f eatured tells a differ ent story . Ye t they are also connected beca use they are a ll part of the 4.5-billion-ye ar history of life on E arth. The va riety of li fe is endless. The mor e time w e spend looking at the w orld around us, the m ore we will no tice and the more w e wil l learn. Perhaps we wi ll also become better at c aring fo r the plane ts na tural treasures. After all, human beings are part of nat ure, too. Ben Hoare Author

Objects in the natural w orld come fr om a v ariety of pl aces. They c an be grouped acc ording to w hat has made them and what they are m ade from. T he three main type s are objects that are parts of ani mals, plants, and minerals, such as feathers, leav es, and crys tals. Howe ver, some objects are built by organisms from materials aro und them. ANIMALS Animals make up the largest c ategory of li fe. So fa r, we have identified around t wo million species, most of wh ich are i nsects, but there are millions more yet to be discov ered. Every species is given a scientifi c name, often based on La tin, the language of the ancient Romans. Zebras hav e hoove s made from tough k erat in.

PLANTS, FUNGI, AND ALG AE Plants fo rm the second larg est category of li fe. They make their o wn food in a proc ess called photos ynthesis. Like animals, each species has a scientific name. Some objects are made by organisms that look a lot lik e plants, but are actually diffe rent ki nds of lif ethe se include fungi and algae. MINERALS AND RO CKS Minerals ar e solid ma terials that occur naturally all o ver t he Earth and beneath its surfac e. Each type of m ineral is made fr om a diffe rent mix ture o f che micals. W e find some as colorful gemstones. Althou gh they are not a live, minera ls do change, and they o ften combine to f orm rocks. MADE B Y NA TURE Many na tural objects ar e not pa rts of living things but instead are created b y animals. Nests, w ebs, and dung balls ar e all made from materials that cre atures create or find in their enviro nment. There ar e no plans for building these items; animals know how by in stinct. Houseleeks have spirals o f fi rm leaves that store water . These lumps of rub y are stuck inside a piece of rock. This tubular case is home to the caddisfly larva that built it.