This creature-filled anthology is a great Christmas present for kids

Packed with fascinating facts and beautiful illustrations, An Anthology of Intriguing Animals is a great addition to your bookshelf

(Daniel Long)

Did you know that octopuses have three hearts? That a zebra’s hoof is just a large toenail? That flamingos look after their chicks in nurseries and that hedgehogs can climb trees?

You’ll find the answers to these most curious of questions in the exquisite children’s encyclopedia, An Anthology of Intriguing Animals. Including more than 100 fascinating species, this beautifully illustrated and thoughtfully laid-out bestiary will make a great gift for children aged seven and above, with its array of facts, myths and captivating pictures.

Home to favourites such as the giant panda, the Bornean orangutan, the giraffe and the common bottlenose dolphin – as well as lesser-known creatures, the leafy seadragon, the ground pangolin, the quokka and the Gila monster – the book details numerous characteristics, habits, and features of some of the world’s most enthralling animals from the land, the sea and the sky.

Bound in a stunning aquamarine cover, gilded in gold, it will delight any animal-loving youngster thirsty for knowledge.

And who knows, you may even learn a few weird and wonderful facts as well.

Discover fascinating information about the quokka and butterflies in the below extracts from the book...

Quokka

(Daniel Long (Daniel Long)

Quokkas are very rare. To have the best chance of seeing one, you need to visit an island called Rottnest, west of Australia.

Check out the grin of the quokka! No wonder people often call it the world’s happiest animal. However, it is not really smiling – that’s just how it looks to us. The quokka is a kind of mammal called a marsupial, like a kangaroo, but it is the size of a fat rabbit. Unlike kangaroos, however, quokkas are pretty good at climbing trees. Some Aboriginal people of Australia called this animal “​gwaga”​. Later that became quokka.

Quokkas eat mostly plants. After they swallow their food, they bring it back up and chew it a second time. Why? It probably helps them to squeeze more nutrients from the tough leaves.

Butterfly

A common blue morpho butterfly

Glasswing butterflies have see-through wings. If one landed here, you could read this text straight through it.

A butterfly’s wings are made of thousands of tiny flakes called scales. These overlap like the tiles on a roof and can be any colour of the rainbow. The common blue morpho is nearly the size of a dinner plate, and it flashes in the sunlight like a jewel.

For mouths, butterflies have long drinking tubes to sip sweet nectar from flowers. However, most of these insects don’t live long – perhaps only a few days or weeks. Many lay eggs, then die. Each egg hatches into a wormlike caterpillar, which eats and eats to grow fatter. Finally it makes itself a hard case called a chrysalis. Safe inside, it rebuilds its body and comes out as a beautiful adult butterfly.

An Anthology of Intriguing Animals, by Ben Hoare, £20

Available now at Amazon.co.uk

*This content was commissioned and approved by DK