The Naturalist's Guide to Dangerous Creatures of Australia book has now been released.
I have had the great pleasure of working on this guide with Scott Eipper of Nature 4 You Wildlife Demonstrations. Scott has been a great help on some of my previous books, donating some of his wonderful images and reviewing sections of text for accuracy, so I was delighted when Scott agreed to work with me on this publication.
Overall this was a very interesting and exciting book to work on. I was asked to consider doing this title by my publisher John Beaufoy and jumped at the chance. Australia has a reputation of having more than its fair share of dangerous creatures, but how dangerous are they really? You only tend to hear about sharks when the attack a swimmer, surfer or scuba diver, Australia's venomous snakes and spiders are much maligned - only hitting the headlines when there is a fatality, and crocodiles seem to be just waiting under the surface of the water for someone to eat. But are Australia's animals really out to get you? There are many animals (and plants) that can kill you if you are unaware of the dangers, don't treat them with respect or place yourself in an unsafe situation. After all, a crocodile will likely eat you if you go into a river that has crocodiles in it, and snakes and spiders will try and bite you if you stand on them, pick them up or try and hit them with a garden rake. Even expert animal handlers, such as the legendary Steve Irwin, who was fatally wounded by a stingray, get bitten or stung when they cross these lines, but bites and stings are much rarer than the media would have you believe.
Coincidentally, I was in England when this book was released and I was sitting in an airport restaurant listening to a group of English people on a nearby table discussing how a friend of their's in Australia told them that Redback Spiders can jump! No they can't! Please buy my book, read it, and find out the truth about our animals! You can find this title on my books page and copies of this and other titles I have worked on in the Naturalist's Guide series are available from my online store.
