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    Strange Survivors: How Organisms Attack and Defend in the Game of Life
    Unavailable
    Strange Survivors: How Organisms Attack and Defend in the Game of Life
    Unavailable
    Strange Survivors: How Organisms Attack and Defend in the Game of Life
    Ebook307 pages6 hours

    Strange Survivors: How Organisms Attack and Defend in the Game of Life

    By One R. Pagan

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    About this ebook

    Life is beautiful, ruthless, and very, very strange.

    In the evolutionary arms race that has raged on since life began, organisms have developed an endless variety of survival strategies. From sharp claws to brute strength, camouflage to venom—all these tools and abilities share one purpose: to keep their bearer alive long enough to reproduce, helping the species avoid extinction. Every living thing on this planet has developed a time-tested arsenal of weapons and defenses. Some of these weapons and defenses, however, are decidedly more unusual than others.

    In Strange Survivors, biologist Oné R. Pagán takes us on a tour of the improbable, the ingenious, and the just plain bizarre ways that creatures fight for life.

    Inside this funny, fascinating field guide to nature’s most colorful characters, you’ll meet killer snails, social bacteria, and an animal with toxic elbows. But Strange Survivors is more than a collection of curiosities—it is a love letter to science and an argument for the continuing relevance of this evolutionary battle as we face the threat of resistant bacteria and the need for novel medical therapies. Whether discussing blood-thinning bats and electric fish or pondering the power of cooperation, Pagán reveals the surprising lessons found in some of life’s natural oddities and how the tactics they employ to live might aid our own survival.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherBenBella Books
    Release dateFeb 27, 2018
    ISBN9781944648596

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    • 4/5
      Strange Survivors is a top line ode to the unmeasured variety of life on Earth. Dr. Oné Pagán absolutely loves the variety, and continually seems thrilled to point out different species and how they approach survival. There are wonders galore. We have only just begun to examine (let alone understand) the blizzard of life forms on this planet. Pagan gives us glimpses:-There are flatworms that can regenerate an entirely new , whole flatworm if just a scrap of it is left over.-Electric eels can generate 800 volts from muscles arranged like a battery. We have yet to determine how and why they don’t shock themselves to death in the water.-There is a jellyfish that when stressed, reverts to its birth size and state, and begins its life all over again.-Certain newts can poke their ribs out through their skin, coating them with venom hidden there. As a good as any sci-fi special effects.-200 species of spider fire their webs at prey, like Spider-Man. Some of the webs shrink and harden, some contain toxins. Or both. -A hornet can kill 40 bees in a minute, but up to 500 bees can surround a hornet and generate so much heat and humidity that the hornet dies.-Co-operative and collective ant colonies have been measured as high as 300 million ants in 45,000 connected nests.Pagán fairly gushes over these tactics. He is as enthusiastic as anyone can be without losing credibility. But the book really doesn’t dig deep – the topic is way too broad for that. It seems to be an intro for say, high schoolers ,to get hooked in the magic of biology.David Wineberg