Language: Japanese
We all have our off days. Why should Evolution be any different? Maybe Evolution got carried away with an idea that was just a little too crazy – like having the Regal Horned Lizard defend itself by shooting three-foot streams of blood from its eyes. Or maybe Evolution ran out of steam (Memo to Evolution: The Irrawaddy Dolphin looks like a prototype that should have been left on the drawing board). Or maybe Evolution was feeling cheeky – a fish with hands? Joke's on you, Red Handfish! Or maybe Evolution simply goofed up: How else to explain the overgrown teeth of the babirusas that curl backward over their face? Oops.
Mara Grunbaum is a very smart, very funny science writer who celebrates the best – or, really, the worst – of Evolution's blunders. Here are more than 100 outlandish mammals, reptiles, insects, fish, birds, and other creatures whose very existence leaves us shaking our heads and muttering WTF?! Ms. Grunbaum's especially brilliant stroke is to personify Evolution as a well-meaning but somewhat oblivious experimenter whose conversations with a skeptical narrator are hilarious.
For almost 4 billion years, Evolution has produced a nonstop parade of inflatable noses, bizarre genitalia, and seriously awkward necks. What a comedian!
Summary in Japanese:
全米のネットで大反響の生物写真集!
「どうしてこうなった!?」なユニークな生物90種類の写真をオールカラー収録!
生命の進化を司る「進化くん」は、日々新しい生物の創造にいそしむ・・・が! ! !
どうしてもまともに作れない進化くん。
盟友「生物多様性くん」のツッコミが今日も今日とてこだまする。
生物のおかしなデザイン、ムダな能力、ありえない配色を擬人化された「進化くん」が自ら解説します。
累計55万部のベストセラー「へんないきもの」シリーズの早川いくをさんが初翻訳。