Jungle Bugs: Masters of Camouflage and Mimicry

by Bruce Purser

During roughly 400 million years on this planet, one million species of insects have developed with a great diversity of shape and color to protect them from predators.

Bruce Purser spent years traveling through tropical forests studying insects and photographing their ongoing quest for survival as they blended into tree trunks and imitated sticks, leaves, other bugs, and even bird droppings. Taken in exotic locales including French Guyana, the Peruvian Amazon, Malaysia, Kenya, Morocco, and Venezuela, his dazzling photographs are accompanied by thoughtful text as he traces the insects' efforts to hide from or scare off their predators.

In this charming and informative book: Explore the dangerous and little-known world of insects Experience exotic tropic tours Discover animal behavior in lively and understandable language Find out how a good disguise or a good impersonation can make the difference between life and death in the animal world

Stunning color photographs reveal insect secrets that we would never get a chance to observe ourselves: such as a harmless moth that looks exactly like a stinging wasp or an inoffensive butterfly that's protected from predators because its coloring is almost identical to that of a highly poisonous variety.

Genres: Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published April 5, 2003

Reviews

[Daniel Morgan · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a really interesting analysis of the different types of camouflage used by tropical arthropods, and I loved the photos.

[Maria · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has excellent pictures and photos to go along with the great information about the bugs.