Editorial Review
Booklist Review of Disguises, Explosions, and Boiling Farts: Bizarre Insect Defenses
In riveting close-up photographs, a dozen insects display—or, in stomach-churning detail, actually demonstrate—a range of natural defenses, from mimicry and camouflage to venomous spines, poisonous foam, and squirts of formic acid. The content caters to thrill seekers (the Exploding Carpenter ant covers attackers in “poisonous yellow gloop”) and to budding zoologists who want to know about exact anatomical features and chemical processes (Bombardier beetles shoot boiling spray from their “butts of fire”). Accompanying facts and graphics back up the informal but vivid general commentary with plenty of “Science Stuff.” The back matter is perfunctory at best, as is the single simple (safe) science demonstration, but both sorts of readers will nonetheless find this entry in The Secret Lives of Insects series (4 titles) a blast.