This book of photography represents National Geographic's Photo Ark, a major cross-platform initiative and lifelong project by photographer Joel Sartore to make portraits of the world's animals -- especially those that are endangered. His message: to know these animals is to save them. Sartore intends to photograph every animal in captivity in the world. He is circling the globe, visiting zoos and wildlife rescue centers to create studio portraits of 12,000 species, with an emphasis on those facing extinction. He has photographed more than 6,000 already and now, thanks to a multi-year partnership with National Geographic, he may reach his goal. This book showcases his animal portraits: from tiny to mammoth, from the Florida grasshopper sparrow to the greater one-horned rhinoceros. Paired with the prose of veteran wildlife writer Douglas Chadwick, this book presents an argument for saving all the species of our planet.

If you think that watching all the nature programs on television qualifies you as an expert on the subject, think again! Do you really know what makes animals tick? Here are the answers, portrayed in stunning, awe-inspiring action sequences and explained in fascinating, in-depth prose. Thematically arranged by behavior trait, Animal Life explores and explains every aspect of animal behavior, including courtship rituals and sex lives, family relationships and defense mechanisms, hunting techniques and feeding habits. Side panels explore some of the field research on animal behavior and explain important conservation issues. The introductory chapters on the Animal Kingdom and on animal anatomy help explain how different animals have evolved and adapted to their environments, adaptations that may be relevant to particular behaviors. Destined to be the ultimate authority on animal behavior, this book also looks at key behavioral concepts such as how animals learn to behave and the role of instinct in the learning process.

See the animal kingdom in all its glory, from jellyfish to polar bears, with up-close details of their unique features from head to toe. Filled with magnificent photographs that were specially commissioned for this book and cannot be seen anywhere else. Written in association with the Smithsonian Institution. This visual reference book starts with the question "what is an animal?" and takes you through the animal kingdom - mammals, reptiles, birds, and sea creatures. It uses a unique head-to-toe approach that showcases in spectacular detail special features like the flight feathers of a parrot, the antenna of a moth, or the tentacles of coral. This visual encyclopedia is filled with clear and fascinating information on everything about the social lives of animals. Read exciting stories like how animals communicate, defend their territories, and attract mates. Learn how evolution has helped wildlife to adapt to their unique environments, whether it's the ability to live in difficult habitats, adjust to specific diets, or how they work physically. Humans have drawn and painted animals for thousands of years. Zoology has included some of these, like early rock art that depicts our awe of the animal kingdom or natural history artworks like those commissioned by the Mughal Courts in the 1600s. Dramatic Wildlife Photography Spectacular, never-before-seen photographs that will bring you close to many of the world's most captivating and intriguing inhabitants. This book offers an extraordinary introduction to the animal world by taking you through chapters that details their diversity. Go from head to toe in Zoology: The animal kingdom Shape and size Skeletons Skins, coats, and armor Senses Mouth and jaws Legs, arms, tentacles, and tails Fins, flippers, and paddles Wings and parachutes Eggs and offspring

A monumental and beautiful guide to Earth's wildlife and natural history--its rocks, minerals, animals, plants, fungi, and microorganisms--this landmark of reference publishing has been extended and updated. In the 11 years since this book was released, thousands of new species have been identified, and new revelations have redrawn the tree of life. Already featuring galleries of more than 5,000 species, The Natural History Book now includes discoveries such as the olinguito (the "kitty bear" of the Andean cloud forest) and the painted mannakin of Peru. It takes advantage of the first living observations of the giant squid and the deep-sea anglerfish. And it has reorganized the groups of living things to reflect the latest scientific understanding. All this ensures that this, the only ebook to offer a complete visual survey of all kingdoms of life, remains the benchmark of illustrated natural history references. Written by a worldwide team of natural history experts, The Natural History Book is the perfect addition to every family bookshelf, as well as an ideal gift for any nature lover. From granites to grapevines, from microbes to mammals, The Natural History Book is the ultimate celebration of the diversity of the natural world.

Prepare to be dazzled by this shining and sumptuous visual guide to the world's greatest treasures. Feast your eyes on glittering gemstones, kaleidoscopic minerals, and famous trinkets in this comprehensive exploration of Earth's finest jewels. Following a foreword from Aja Raden, hundreds of pages take a lavish look at precious stones, precious metals, and organic gems in all their natural wonder. From agate to zoisite, everything under the Sun is encapsulated in spectacular photography and accessible text. Trace the history of gemmology and get the inside story on our planet's most famous and fabulous gems, including the mysterious Hope Diamond, the stunning Koh-i-Noor of the Crown Jewels, and exquisite Fabergé eggs. Find out their physical properties, check the price tags, and discover the most remarkable record-breakers. This exceptionally extravagant book is a picture-packed, fact-filled celebration guaranteed to bring sparkle to your life and your library.

In seventeenth-century northern Europe, as the Aristotelian foundations of scientia were rocked by observation, experiment, confessional strife, and political pressure, natural philosophers came to rely on the printed image to fortify their epistemologies—and none more so than René Descartes. In Skepticism’s Pictures, historian of science Melissa Lo chronicles the visual idioms that made, sustained, revised, and resisted Descartes’s new philosophy. Drawing on moon maps, political cartoons, student notebooks, treatises on practical mathematics, and other sources, Lo argues that Descartes transformed natural philosophy with the introduction of a new graphic language that inspired a wide range of pictorial responses shaped by religious affiliation, political commitment, and cultural convention. She begins by historicizing the graphic vocabularies of Descartes’s Essais and Principia philosophiae and goes on to analyze the religious and civic volatility of Descartes’s thought, which compelled defenders (such as Jacques Rohault and Wolferd Senguerd) to reconfigure his pictures according to their local visual cultures—and stimulated enemies (such as Gabriel Daniel) to unravel Descartes’s visual logic with devastating irony. In the epilogue, Lo explains why nineteenth-century French philosophers divorced Descartes’s thought from his pictures, creating a modern image of reason and a version of philosophy absent visuality. Engaging and accessible, Skepticism’s Pictures presents an exciting new approach to Descartes and the visual reception of seventeenth-century physics. It will appeal to historians of early modern European science, philosophy, art, and culture and to art historians interested in histories that give images their argumentative power.