Read an Excerpt
FOREWORD
The World of Wild Animals
There are many millions of animals in the world: mammals, birds, reptiles, fish, insects - no one quite knows how many actually populate our Earth. More are constantly being discovered and every year many disappear, never to be seen again. Even large and powerful animals like the tiger are threatened with extinction. Humankind could exist without tigers, tapirs or ocelots, but it would be wrong to assume taht we are the most important creature on Earth. We are intruders in the animal kingdom and with every animal that dies out, our life on this planet loses a part of its power and color and beauty. In fact, we don't want to even imagine a world without all of these amazing creatures that live in forests and jungles, in valleys and mountains, in oceans and savannahs, do we?
This book is dedicated to the animals in the southern half of the globe. It tells us how and where they live, what they look like, what they eat, how they find each other or hide from one another and all the other things they get up to. We'll take a look into hot tropical corners, but also make a detour into the cold of the Antarctic, where life is especially hard but sometimes more peaceful - maybe because people don't show up there so often! No matter how different all of these animals are, how different their shapes, their colors or their way of life in the highest treetops, the deepest oceans or the starkest deserts, one thing ties them together: their will to live and their freedom.
Have fun in the wilderness!
