Over 640 colour photographs

• Over 640 stunning colour photos and illustrations by top wildlife photographers.



• Lively and informative text – ideal for use in the classroom and at home.



• Explores all aspects of snakes, crocodiles, lizards, tortoises and turtles, from where they live and what they eat, to their body structure and behaviour.

With over 640 superb wildlife pictures and illustrations of snakes, crocodiles, lizards, turtles and tortoises, everyone will be enthralled by this colourful and fascinating book.

Lively text reveals every aspect of these extraordinary creatures’ behaviour, from how their bodies work, what they eat and how they communicate to how they survive the dangers of life in the wild. Fascinating facts are revealed about all of the animals.

A variety of species are explored and illustrated in detail, and special features focus on alligators, vipers, the Komodo dragon and snapping turtles.

About the Authors

Barbara Taylor - Author

Barbara Taylor studied environmental sciences at Southampton University before becoming a science editor and writer at London’s Natural History Museum. She is now a full time writer specialising in science and natural history books for children. Barbara has won several awards, including, for Crocodiles (in the Lorenz Books Nature Watch series), the Key Stage 2 non-fiction category of the English Associations 4-11 awards for the best children’s illustrated books of 2000. Barbara Taylor's published works include Butterflies & Moths (Dorling Kindersley; The Illustrated Wildlife Encyclopedia of Reptiles (Lorenz Books); Animal Encyclopedia (Dorling Kindersley); and Nature Fact File: Crocodiles (Southwater).

Mark O'Shea - Author

Mark O'Shea is probably best known as the reptile expert on the Channel 4 television series O'Shea's Dangerous Reptiles. He is also curator of reptiles at West Midland Safari Park. Mark has written or contributed to key guides to snakes, reptiles, and amphibians, and lectures all over the world. In the course of over 50 research expeditions and field studies worldwide, including herpetological projects as biological director for Operation Raleigh, he has made significant contributions to the understanding of reptiles for biological and medical research. Mark is a Fellow of the Explorers Club of New York and of the Royal Geographic Society, a Scientific Fellow of the Zoological Society of London, and President of the International Herpetological Society. In 2000, he joined astronaut Buzz Aldin, explorer Ranulph Fiennes, and mountaineer Chris Bonnington as a recipient of the Millennium Award for Services to Zoology from the British Chapter of the Explorers Club of New York.