"Honeybees first appeared on earth around 80 million years ago, and from the beginning have played a key role in our survival. Most fruit trees and vegetable species are entirely dependent on bees to produce, and there is no commercially viable artificial replacement for natural pollination. In the past year up to 80% of the honeybees in the US have vanished. The massive die-offs, first reported in November of 2006, are now the subject of emergency research around the globe as the devastation spreads and scientists race to discover the cause of this ecological disaster. Could it be a disease? Or is it caused by cellphones, pesticides, mites, fungi, or the stress that comes from increasingly industrialized beekeeping operations? Whatever is happening, we must solve the mystery soon, and correct the problem, or face consequences we hardly dare imagine"--Container.

"Meet the brightest cast of characters in the Australia story. ..From the outrageous drumming palm cockatoo in the tropical rainforest, to the shameless red female eclectus parrot of the far north who keeps a harem of males, there's no greater richness or diversity of parrots anywhere than here!"--Container.