There are animals that can survive in ice, change sex, are unaffected by radioactivity, hardly age, or can replace entire limbs. Is there something we can learn from these animal superheroes?
Naked mole rats race through their tunnels like bumper cars that don’t have right of way. And yet these apparently reckless hooligans have an impressively sophisticated social structure in which everything is shared. Giraffes have incredibly high blood pressure, but no cardiovascular damage. Nightingales can memorize over 200 songs, and tardigrades would even survive in space.
Russ Hodge writes about muscular female mole fighters, messy bachelor mole fighters, and their non-binary conspecifics. Along the way, he also explains the complex biology of sex and what we can learn from it to fix some of the world’s problems. Often the top scientists researching these animals are just as strange as the objects of their study – which is hardly surprising considering that you have to learn the ancient art of catching moles in Spain before you can do this research.
Kat Menschik showcases each of these zoological masters of survival in beautiful illustrations, turning even the futuristic-looking tardigrade into a star.
