by Simon Barnes
abundance 271–2
Acanthocephala 222–3
The Accidental Tourist 28
acoelomorphs 260–1
Adams, Douglas 74, 145–6, 175, 375
Adams, Richard 132
adders 349
Aesop’s fables 284
Africa 43, 86–7 see also specific countries
African bees 424
African eagle owl 246
African pygmy mouse 132
African scops owl 244
African skimmers 226
African spoonbill 225
agoutis 132
ah-ness 248–9, 321
albatrosses 300–1
algae 73–4, 82
Allen, Woody 182n, 215n, 265, 419n, 434
alphabetisation 28–9
altruism 184, 186
American bison 86
American football 239
ammonites 288–9, 290
amniotes 335
amoebae 31
amphibians 370, 392–3, 399
ancestors
failures 459
success 15, 78, 85, 397, 420, 453
worm relationship 255–6
angels 214
anglerfish 428–9
Anna’s sea slug 316
annelids 142–4, 282n
Anomaluridae 123, 126
Anseriformes 292n
Antarctic 79–80, 312
antelopes 86, 87–8, 93–6, 132, 191, 205
Anthropocene era 138
ants 117, 129, 372–3
anuses
annelids 143
entoproct 234, 235
peanut worms 210
phoronids 267
symbions 242
apes 37–8, 176, 285
aphids 409
Apocrita 431
apophallation 20–1
aposematic colouration 386
Apus apus 258
Arabian oryx 190n
arachnids 329, 357–9
Archaea 31
archaeopteryx 207–8, 224
Arctic tern 251–2
Arionidae 37, 38
arrow worms 205–6
art and science 287
arthropods 45, 46, 134–5, 329–32, 337–8
artiodactyls 163
ascariasis 128
assassin bugs 409
asses 85
Attenborough, Sir David 72–3n, 104, 114, 148, 288, 377–8
auks 298
Australia 74, 85, 208, 402
autozooids 160
axolotl 394
baboons 23, 34, 43
bacteria
anglerfish 428
human gut 15
kingdoms 31
badgers 76
Bagheera 76
baiji 175, 190n
Bali 405–6
ballooning spiders 352, 353
Baluchistan pygmy jerboa 132
bamboo vipers 340
banded demoiselles 387–8, 391
bank voles 148
bark beetles 455
barn owls 148, 244–5
barnacle geese 345n
barnacles 345–7
Basho 248–9, 390, 408
basket-stars 99
basking sharks 436–7
bat hawks 236–7, 243
bateleur eagle 230–2, 233n, 237, 348
bats
echolocation 180–1
flight 29–30, 178, 180, 181, 182, 230
human fear 179, 358
migration 252
size 321
spiders 352
vampire bats 184–6
bdelloid rotifers 216–17
beaks 208, 224–6, 270, 282, 293, 300, 409
Beamon, Bob 48, 445n
bears 61–3, 412
beauty
birds 219–20, 221, 278–9
insects 380, 440, 450, 456
shells 297
beavers 131
bedbugs 409
bee-eaters 277–8
bee hummingbird 264
bees 423–6
beetles 27, 86, 194, 205, 445–50, 455
Belize 43
Beowulf 90
Best, George 135
Bewick’s swan 291
bilaterality 98, 105, 183, 316
bilharzia 106
bills see beaks
birds
beaks 224–6, 270, 293, 300
beauty 219–20, 221, 278–9
breathing 213–14
calls and singing 26, 177, 209, 245, 325–8
chicks 336, 369
diversity 271, 318
evolution 29–30
eye contact 34
feathers 212–13, 226, 294
fishing 224–6
flight 209, 212–15, 230–2, 258–9, 263–4, 292, 299
flightlessness 305–8
intelligence 214, 285–7
migration 250, 251–3, 258
nocturnal 153n
snake-eating 239
species discovery 25–6
tails 220, 231, 279
taxonomy 94n
waterbirds 142, 292–4, 375–6
birds of paradise 220, 319
birds of prey 236–40, 336
bison 86, 190n
bivalves 302–4
black and white colobus 43
black bears 62–3
black-crowned night heron 225
black mamba 341–2
black panther 76n
black rat 139
blackbirds 220, 319
Blake, William 113, 114
Blakeney Point, Norfolk 77–8
Blattodea 447n
blue morpho butterfly 380
blue-ringed octopus 282
blue tits 319
blue waxbills 320
blue whale 89, 163, 173, 273, 321, 338
bolas spider 353
Bond, James 70–1, 215, 273, 315n, 420, 444n
bonobos 38
bootlace worm 89n, 155
Borneo 33, 450, 455
bottoms 23 see also anuses
bovids 86, 93
box jellyfish 91
brachiopods 166
Bradfield Wood, Suffolk 145, 146–7
Brazil 132, 263
breasts 22
breathing
annelids 143
birds 213–14
flatworms 104
insects 388–9
lung evolution 412
rays 443
sharks 434, 443
whales 164–5
Breen, Chris 197, 229
brimstone butterflies 438
bristleworms 142, 282n
British Columbia, Canada 61, 162, 412
brittle stars 99
brown greater galago 49
brown rat 138–40
brumbies 85
bryozoans 160–1
Bryson, Bill 411n
bubonic plague 140–1
buffalos 92–3
Bufonidae 377
bugs 381, 408–9
bullfrogs 377
bumblebee bat 321
bumblebees 426
Burgess, Anthony 141n
Burgess Shale 227
Burroughs, William 216n
bushbabies 48–9
bushbucks 93
bushshrikes 333
butterflies 252, 269, 371–2, 380, 414, 438–41
buttocks 23
caecilians 399–400
Cambrian Explosion 46–7, 290
camouflage 225n, 282, 396–7, 443
Canada 61, 162, 412
cannibalism 368n, 372, 397
Captain Beefheart 65
capybara 132
carnivores 57, 62–4, 76–7
carpenter bees 425
carrion crows 285
Carson, Rachel 382
cartilage 442
Carukia barnesi 91
cassowaries 306
cat shark 436
caterpillars 372–3, 430, 440
cats 455
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Caudata 393–4
cell types 177
centipedes 364–5
cephalopods 283, 288, 302
Ceratiidae 428
Cerion 322–4
Cestoda 113
cetaceans 163, 173
chaetognaths 205–6
chaffinches 326
Chagas disease 347n, 409
champions 84–5
chaos 84, 85
Chaplin’s barbet 319n
Chapman, Graham 166
chelicerates 357
chimeras 442
chimpanzees 34, 37, 38
China 389–90
Chinese giant salamander 393
Chironex fleckeri 91
Chondrichthyes 442
chordates 36
Christmas tree tube worm 143
The Chronicles of Narnia 122
cicadas 408–10
cilia 182
cirripeds 346
cities 401
clams 302–4
classes 37
classification 1, 28–9, 36–7, 45–6, 455 see also taxonomy
Clayton, Prof. Nicky 284–5, 286–7
cleaner fish 418–19, 452
climate change 339
clitoris 69–70
Cnidaria 73, 91, 182
Cocker, Mark 259
cockles 166
cockroaches 138, 447n
coelacanth 458, 461
Colarado beetle 380
Coleoptera 445
coleopterists 27n
colobus 43
Colombia 168, 262, 314, 360, 379–80, 383, 384
colonies
bees 425
bryozoans 160–1
naked mole rat 101–2
tapeworms 114
termites 401–4
velvet worms 136
wasps 51–2
colossal squid 275, 276
colubrids 341
colugos 126
Columbo 266
comb jellies 182
commensals 139
common crossbill 94n
common names 365n
common poorwill 252n
common sea angel 316
common sense 83
common tern 251
compass termites 402
competition 169, 221
Conan Doyle, Sir Arthur 89–90
conches 315n
conchiolin 297
condors 239, 291n
Conraua goliath 377
conservation
abundance 271–2
bees 426
birds of prey 239
ecoservices 310n
elephants 109
golden poison frog 384–6
insects 381, 382
seals 77
Torrey Canyon disaster 83
William Holden 96
continuity with evolution 18, 24, 29, 56, 177, 421, 459–60
convergence 30, 31, 126, 243, 280, 439
Conway Morris, Simon 227
Cook, Peter 241
cookiecutter shark 436
coppicing 145n
coral reefs 40, 72–5, 405
corals 39–41, 45, 73–4
Cornwall 82, 413
cowry shells 296
crabs 46, 194, 223, 315, 337–8
cream-striped swordtail 440
crested newts 393
cricket 159, 250, 371
crickets 178–9, 193
crisis relocation 250
crocodiles 34, 195–6, 333–5, 336
crossbills 94n
crows 284–6
crustaceans 329, 337–8, 345
cryptobiosis 121
Ctenophora 182–3
Cubozoa 91
cuckoos 249, 259
Curculionidae 455
cuteness response 145n
Cycliophora 241–2
Dahl, Roald 352
Damaraland mole rat 101–3
damselflies 387–8, 391
Darwin, Charles
barnacles 344–5, 346–7
beetles 447–50
birds 219, 220–1, 362n
Chagas disease 347n, 409
coral reefs 74
Disraeli’s objections 16
diversification 46–7
endlessness 15
God 430, 432
ichneumons 430
marine iguanas 355–6
missing links 207–9
portrait 17
survival 40, 167n
swim bladders 412
turtles 362
worms 149, 150–1
Darwin’s frog 378
Dawkins, Richard 37, 86, 119n, 432n
degeneracy 218n
Demodex mites 15, 16
Dendrobatidae 386
depression 246
deserts 375–6
design 59n
Dickenson, Emily 215
digestion, external 352n, 409
Dilong paradoxus 213
dinosaurs 158, 207–8, 213, 273
Diptera 415–16
Disraeli, Benjamin 16
diversification 46–7, 85, 86
diversity
abundance 271–2
arthropods 329–30
beetles 446–7, 455
butterflies 441
coral reefs 75
fish 413
insects 85, 381
mammals 85, 101
sharks 435
snails 324
weevils 454–6
DNA analysis 30–1, 38
dodo 306–7
dogfish 436
dogs 22, 33, 63
dolphins 30, 163, 173–5, 285, 298
donkeys 26
Doris 156
dormice 146–7, 148
doves 319
dragonflies 33, 388–90
duck-billed platypus 208–9, 318n, 335
ducks 292–4
dunnocks 319
Dunwich Forest, Suffolk 349
Durrell, Gerald 125, 185n, 359, 396, 408
dwarf lantern shark 435
dwarf lemurs 43
dwarf pygmy goby 413
Dylan, Bob 410
eagles 225, 229, 230–2, 236, 307, 348, 404
earthworms 142, 149–52
echidna 335
echinoderms 98–100
echolocation 180–1
ecoservices 310n, 328, 380–1, 402, 423–4
Ectoprocta 160
Eden 419
egrets 225
eider ducks 222
eland 87–8
elapids 341
Elasmobranchii 442–3
electrolocation 208–9n
electroreception 436, 443
elegant sea slug 316
elephant bird 306
elephant fish 442
elephant seal 77
elephants 22, 34, 108–12, 195–9, 203–4, 285, 321
elf owl 246
Eliot, TS 36
emperor penguins 312
endemic species 319n
endlessness 15, 16, 39, 41, 311, 460
entomology 395, 415
entroprocts 234–5
epiphanies 202–4, 269, 330–1
Equidae 85–6
Euclid 155
Eurasian eagle owl 246
European bison 190n
European scops owl 246
evolution
birds 213
design 59n
diversity 46–7, 85, 86, 208–9n, 324
flight 29–30
fossil record 207
gradualism 151–2
myth of perfection 16, 78–9, 453–4
simplicity 177, 222, 223
time 457–8
excrement see faeces
exoskeletons 330
external digestion 352n, 409
extinction
bees 426
butterflies 371
counterfactual 255, 400
flightless birds 305–7
human impact 138
, 175, 304, 394
thylacine 189
eye contact 33–4, 55–6
eyelash mites 15, 16
eyes
box jellyfish 91
caecilians 399
dragonflies 389
night reflection 153
ocelli 105, 260
owls 243–4
praying mantis 396
sharks 436
spiders 332n
Fabri, Jean-Henri 395–6, 397
faeces 43, 71, 113–14, 128, 132, 149–50, 403
faith 227n
family (taxonomy) 36, 37, 38
farming 304, 403
feather-stars 99
feathers 212–13, 226, 294
feet
aardvarks 117
birds 258, 318
cirripeds 346
lobopods 136
penguins 313
Felidae 455
field voles 148, 244, 245
fig wasp 129
finches 319, 326
Finnegans Wake 18, 36, 292–3n, 457
firecrest 319
fireflies 450
fish
cleaning 418–19
diversity 413
dolphin taxonomy 30
taxonomy 407
thorny-headed worms 223
fish eagles 225
fishapods 458
fishing 224–6
fitness 167n, 223
Flamborough Head, Yorkshire 161
flamingos 270–1
flat-headed cat 455
flatworms 104–7, 113–15, 150
fleas 140–1, 380
Fleming, Ian 70–1
flies 414–17
flight-response 55, 406
flightlessness 305–8
flowers 423
flying
bats 178, 180, 181, 182, 230
birds 209, 212–15, 230–2, 258–9, 263–4, 292, 299
evolution 29–30
insects 314n, 414–15, 445
microlights 229–30
flying fish 311n
flying foxes 180
flying lemurs 126
flying mice 123, 124, 125–6
flying phalangers 126
flying squirrels 123, 126
food hygiene 113–14, 128
fossils 207, 227, 288–9, 290, 329, 342, 458
France 395–6
frigate birds 299–300
frogs 104, 126, 367–9, 376–7, 383–5
fungi 31–2
Galapagos 300, 312, 355–6, 362
Ganesh 109, 141
Ganges river dolphin 173–4
gannets 298
gardeners 31–2, 403
gastropods 37, 314–16, 322
Gastrotricha 227–8
gaur 86
geckos 354
geese 293, 345n
genus 38
gerenuks 95–6, 97
ghost fish 442
giant African land-snails 106, 322, 323
giant clam 302–4
giant kingfisher 225
giant Pacific octopus 283
giant squid 90, 273–4, 276
giant tube worm 143
gibbons 43
Gillard, Julia 19
Gipp’s landworm 144
giraffes 205
gladiators 136n
glass sponges 65–6, 67
gliding 123, 125–6, 178, 238n, 300, 343
gnathostomulids 247–8
gnats 416
gnu 87
goats 22
goblet worms 234–5
goldcrest 318
golden poison frog 383–4, 385, 386
goldfish 411–12
golf 214
Golfingia macintoshi 210
Goliath frog 377
Goliath heron 225
