The third book in author Sami Bayly's trilogy of illustrated books about nature offers more rare insight into the animal kingdom.
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The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Peculiar Pairs in Nature features 60 of the most .. you guessed it ... peculiar pairs in nature.
It details how plant and animal species rely on each other for survival.
"I think, if I do say so myself, it was the best way to finish the three-part book series," said Sami, who lived in Kotara before moving to Armidale.
Her first book, The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Ugly Animals, was followed by The Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Dangerous Animals.
"Having ugly animals first, then dangerous animals, it was really hard to pick a third finishing book for the trilogy. But I'm really pleased with Peculiar Pairs," Sami said.
She said the book's 60 unusual pairs include "the positive ones and not so positive - like parasitic pairs - as well".
"A common term people would have heard is symbiosis or mutualism," she said.
"That is basically where a partnership, either one animal and a different plant species or two animals, come together in nature when they usually wouldn't and help each other to survive."
One of Sami's favourites from the book is the trigger plant and reed bee.
"If you're walking around the bush, you can find this species. It's a small flower that has a long stalk with long pink flowers on it. If you look closely, these flowers have a trigger," she said.
"It's this big long tendril that reaches back behind the flower. When it's stimulated, the bee flies in and touches the flower and tries to get some of the yummy pollen and whatnot.
"The flower realises the bee is there and it springs forward this trigger and basically smacks it on the head and sometimes on the back or side.
"It will put all that pollen onto the bee so, when it goes to different plants, it's able to pollinate them and that's how they're able to reproduce."
Sami said half the pairs in the book can be found in Australia.
"I wanted to make sure kids can read the book and look forward to seeing the cool things in nature."
Sami has been contracted to do four more books in a different format to the illustrated encyclopedias.
"We're going to take it down a different route, maybe picture book style, still focusing on incredible, inspiring and awesome bits of nature."
Accelerant Doggy
Herald photographer Marina Neil was covering the Darby Street fire last Thursday when she spotted Xando the labrador in the back of a Fire and Rescue NSW vehicle.
On his Instagram account, he's referred to as an "Ignitable Liquid Detection Canine for fire investigation".
He's also known as an accelerant dog.
- topics@newcastleherald.com.au