Birds: Brilliant & Bizarre

Description:

Foreward by Beccy Speight, CEO of the RSPB. This book reveals how birds have survived for millions of years and describes their surprising and sometimes shocking behaviours and physical abilities, from zebra finches that sing while they dream, to vampire finches that feast on blood. Modern birds are living dinosaurs that have evolved to become one of the most successful groups of animals on the planet - from the common pigeon to the colourful monal. Birds: Brilliant and Bizarre explains how, when it came to survival, it was birds who had the edge, outliving their reptile ancestors to become one of the most diverse groups of animals in the natural world. It also explores the incredible adaptations which evolved over millions of years, and how birds can rapidly adapt to survive, responding quickly to local change. Finally it explores what extraordinary adaptations birds could evolve next and imagines a world where birds and people might thrive together.

As senior curator of our avian anatomical collections, Dr Cooper explores the extraordinary adaptations birds have made over millions of years – and how they could evolve in the future.