Every Creeping Thing: True Tales of Faintly Repulsive Wildlife

by Richard Conniff, Sally J. Bensusen (Illustrator)

"Despite the efforts of many earnest and life-affirming people to persuade me that the vampire bat is our friend and that Native Americans enjoyed true harmony with Brother Wolf, I have never quite overcome the gut feeling that fear of nature is normal....It can also be pleasurable....What I really find creepy and wonderful about nature are not its great terrors, but its weird, unsuspected minutiae...for instance, that some sharks practice sibling cannibalism in the womb, or that a mole will paralyze earthworms, ball them up in a knot, and seal them away in individual cells in the walls of its chambered mound, still living, to be eaten at leisure. I am captivated by the sight of a keyhole limpet...[which] carries a sort of vicious pet under its shell, like an old lady's lap dog."--From Every Creeping Thing

In this sequel to Spineless Wonders, Richard Conniff once again explores the tangled connections between human beings and animals (this time mostly vertebrates). His adventures take us from an island in the Gulf Stream, where a man devotes his life to the devilbird, to provincial England, where bloodhounds and riders on horseback hunt down a human being for sport.

With his characteristically offbeat approach, Conniff focuses on some of the least huggable members of the animal world-- porcupines, snapping turtles, cormorants, bats, mice, moles. Through their lives, Conniff introduces us to some of the strangest behaviors on earth. We meet sharks that practice sibling cannibalism in their mother's womb, bats that delight in a sybaritic "disco mating strategy," and five-hundred-pound grizzly bears that gorge themselves on moths in August. Every Creeping Thing is a fascinating, comic tour through the far side of the animal kingdom.

Genres: Nonfiction, Animals, Science, Nature, Biology, Natural History, Anthropology

272 pages, Paperback

First published December 10, 1998

About the author

Richard Conniff, a Guggenheim Fellow and winner of the National Magazine Award, is the author most recently of House of Lost Worlds: Dinosaurs, Dynasties, and the Story of Life on Earth. He writes for Smithsonian and National Geographic and is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times, and a former commentator on NPR's All Things Considered. His other books include The Natural History of the Rich, Swimming with Piranhas at Feeding Time, and The Species Seekers. He lives in Old Lyme, Connecticut.

Reviews

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book about animals and how humans have affected their habitat and interact in daily life with the everything from insects to sharks. The writing style is very accessible and it is fill with anecdotal stories that draw the reader into the story being told. It was written in 1998, so some of the statistics and examples concerning certain situations are a little dated, but the underlying facts do not change so it does not reduce the fun and learning experience of read this book.

[Meredith · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is an excellent and interesting book. The only reason I 4 starred it is because two of the chapters are about deforestation and potential extinction, not faintly repulsive wildlife. I mean, I liked those two chapters a lot! But they didn't really fit with the rest of the book. He should have done a whole other book with that as the basis. Anyhow, I learned a lot of interesting things, and I can intellectually appreciate mice now, even if they still actually gross me out.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Series of interesting articles discussing the underside of animal life- bats, porcupines, weasels, moles, sharks, snapping turtles and more! My only issue is that this was written 20 years ago and I'd love to hear an update on some of the info! I'll be looking into his other books too :)

[Kathleen McRae · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book contained a large amount of information and could almost be read twice.

[BookBec · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very engaging read.
My mind boggles at one man's research on porcupine quills. Ow!

[Jerry Hillyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not bad. I wouldn't classify the animals he wrote of as repulsive though.

[Tracy · Rating 4 out of 5]

My degree in biology shows sometimes in my choice of books to read. I found this for sale for a dollar at the library, and it was probably $5 worth of entertainment and education. This was a riveting read in every way, illuminating various vertebrate animal myths in a humorous, sensitive but sensible manner of writing. I think maybe some things I wish I hadn't learned, but overall, I didn't regret that one dollar I spent on it.

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've just finished reading this book through bookcrossing. I liked some of the chapters more than others but it was an overall rewarding read and I learned a great deal about several animal species in a very enjoyable way. Will probably lend this to a friend after coming back from holidays and ask him to release it after reading it in Porto, where he lives.

[Chi Dubinski · Rating 5 out of 5]

An enlightening and amusing look at some of the “least huggable members of the animal world.” Coniff, a science journalist, examines 16 different beasts, including snapping turtles, bats, sharks, and porcupines.

[Becky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining light reading. Especially liked the chapter about weasels.

[Rachel Wang · Rating 5 out of 5]

entertaining and informative, one of the best books I've read in a while.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Collection of essays on various animals and topics relating to them. I found the chapters on bats and moles interesting. My favorite chapter was the one about bloodhounds.