strange behaviors

Cool doings from the natural and human worlds

  • Richard Conniff

  • Reviews for Richard Conniff’s Books

    The Kindle version of my book Spineless Wonders: Strange Tales from the Invertebrate World is currently on sale for just $4.99.  The New York Times Book Review says,  “With wit & elegance [Conniff] persuades the queasiest reader to share his fascination with the extravagant variety of invertebrates & their strategies.”

    Ending Epidemics: A History of Escape from Contagion: “Ending Epidemics is an important book, deeply and lovingly researched, written with precision and elegance, a sweeping story of centuries of human battle with infectious disease. Conniff is a brilliant historian with a jeweler’s eye for detail. I think the book is a masterpiece.” Richard Preston, author of The Hot Zone and The Demon in the Freezer

    The Species Seekers:  Heroes, Fools, and the Mad Pursuit of Life on Earth by Richard Conniff is “a swashbuckling romp” that “brilliantly evokes that just-before Darwin era” (BBC Focus) and “an enduring story bursting at the seams with intriguing, fantastical and disturbing anecdotes” (New Scientist). “This beautifully written book has the verve of an adventure story” (Wall St. Journal)

    Swimming with Piranhas at Feeding Time by Richard Conniff  is “Hilariously informative…This book will remind you why you always wanted to be a naturalist.” (Outside magazine) “Field naturalist Conniff’s animal adventures … are so amusing and full color that they burst right off the page …  a quick and intensely pleasurable read.” (Seed magazine) “Conniff’s poetic accounts of giraffes drifting past like sail boats, and his feeble attempts to educate Vervet monkeys on the wonders of tissue paper will leave your heart and sides aching.  An excellent read.” (BBC Focus magazine)

  • Wall of the Dead

    A Memorial to Fallen Naturalists

    Ending Epidemics: Expanded Endnotes

     

  • Categories

«
»

Hey, Science Fiction! Face it: Reality is Weirder

Posted by Richard Conniff on October 27, 2015

(Photo: Piotr Naskrecki)

(Photo: Piotr Naskrecki)

This is the latest of many bizarre insect images the entomologist and photographer Piotr Naskrecki posts at his website The Smaller Majority.  He found these characters in Mozambique’s Gorongosa National Park, where most people think wildlife means only those hairy things with four legs, the what-do-you-call’em. Oh, right, vertebrates. So boring.

Why on Earth is it that people think we need to go to outer space to find alien species?

Great molting ghost mantid! (Photo: Piotr Naskrecki)

Great molting ghost mantid! (Photo: Piotr Naskrecki)

This entry was posted on October 27, 2015 at 10:34 am and is filed under Biodiversity, Funny Business, Read That Face. Tagged: , , . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Leave a comment

«
»