Bass Eat Their Own Young!

Gr 3–6—As the provocative titles indicate, the grosser aspects of animal behavior take center stage here, rounded out with more general species information. Some animals, such as leeches and vultures, offer an especially rich variety of unappealing behaviors, described in measured, science-based prose that usually avoids sensationalized emotions. Other animals don't fit the theme as well. The skua's vomit-eating habits, for example, are covered in one page without any images of the described behavior. Well-chosen photographs, including flies on feces and bloody beaks, will elicit an appropriate mix of fascination and revulsion. Each book features a spread with six or seven "disgusting facts," along with items that are not gross at all (for instance, the age of the oldest bass). A brief look at how so-called disgusting behaviors actually play important parts in our ecosystems closes each book.