Real animals are more bizarre than the most incredible fantasies and fascinate us no less than the illustrations of a medieval bestiary. This thought prompted Caspar Henderson to write a book full of tenderness and anxiety about our planet. The more we study nature, the more amazing discoveries we make. Yeti crab living almost in boiling water was discovered by scientists only in 2005. Axolotl, capable of regenerating not only lost limbs, but also some internal organs, inspires hope for transplantologists. Mysterious sponges can tell a lot about the origin of animals and humans. The king of nature is given a separate chapter, although in fact the whole book is devoted to him, because the author examines the animals themselves through the prism of their similarity and dissimilarity to humans, finding out how evolution and a variety of forms help to interpret human nature.