DARK BANQUET: BLOOD AND THE CURIOUS LIVES OF BLOOD-FEEDING CREATURES. de Schutt, Bill - 2088

New York: Harmony, 2088. 325 pp, 9 1/2" H. B&w drawings. "(Z)oologist Bill Schutt takes readers on an entertaining voyage into the world of some of nature's strangest creatures - the sanguivores. Using a sharp eye and mordant wit, (he) makes a remarkably persuasive case that vampire bats, leeches, ticks, bed bugs, and other vampires are as deserving of our curiosity as warmer and fuzzier species are - and that many of them are even worthy of conservation. He takes us from rural Trinidad to the jungles of Brazil to learn about some of the most reviled, misunderstood, and marvelously evolved animals on our planet: vampire bats. Schutt also tracks the history of medicinal leech use. Once employed by the tens of millions to drain perceived excesses of blood, today the market for these ancient creatures is booming once again - but for very different reasons. Among the other blood feeders we meet are bed bugs, or 'ninja insects' (and he) also details our dangerous and sometimes deadly encounters with ticks, chiggers, and mites (the latter implicated in Colony Collapse Disorder - currently devastating honey bees worldwide). Then there are the truly wierd - vampire finches. And if you thought piranha were scary, some people believe that the candiru (or willy fish) is the best reason to avoid swimming in the Amazon. Enlightening, alarming, and appealing to our delight in the bizarre, 'Dark Banquet' peers into a part of the natural world to which we are, through our blood, inextricably linked." Very light wrinkling at top/bottom of spine, tiny dent on bottom edge of rear board. Dust jacket has minor edge wrinkling.. Hard Cover. Very Good+/Very Good+. Illus. by Patricia Wynne..