For those who like their glossy wildlife books to cover some of the subtleties of the animal world, Wildlife of Australia is a well-suited compendium. As well as the flat-out fun facts (did you know that more than 100 species of male Australian wasps are fooled into believing they are mating with females when they are actually just pollinating orchids?) there are also the more serious insights (did you know populations of the Tasmanian devil have declined by about 50% since the discovery of a highly contagious cancer?).

While beautiful photographs splash across the glossy pages, descriptive text gives readers an insight into the lifestyles, habitats, threats, interactions with other species and the future of our national treasures. The book is a celebration of Australia’s Gondwanan origins, which allowed for millions of years of evolution in isolation, ensuing biota profoundly unlike those of any other continent.

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