Description

Insects disguising themselves as flowers or leaves. A spider that lassoes its prey. A beetle that persuades a bee to care for its young. Small is beautiful. And astonishingly varied - far over a million species - and important.

Kept small by lack of backbones, invertebrates were here before us, will still be there when we have gone. They are the pollinaters, cleaners and recyclers of life on earth. With their help, we have evolved. Without them, we would not last long.

Yet people are prejudiced, by ignorance, fear, or just difference of size and difficulties of seeing. Closer to them, children notice and enjoy tiny creatures where adults may too easily reach for an insecticide.

David Attenborough - one of the most effective and best-liked teachers of our time - has studied and enjoyed nature since a schoolboy in the Leicestershire countryside 70 years ago. His new BBC television series, which this book accompanies and expands, is a look at these small lives the world over: their arrival on land and mastery of every habitat, their fantastic variety of hunting, mating and highly organised social behaviour.