'Atlas Obscura: Wild Life' Is a Fun Encyclopedia of Our Planet's Weird and Wonderful Flora and Fauna

To remedy my feelings of wildlife withdrawal, I’ve resorted to re-watching David Attenborough documentaries and reading, for the the umpteenth time, what I consider to be my personal wildlife and conservation Bible: Last Chance to See, a funny and fascinating book by Douglas Adams and Mark Carwardine. At least I was until I received Atlas Obscura: Wild Life: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Living Wonders (2024, Workman Publishing Company) in the mail. Now, that’s really filled my cup.

Atlas Obscura: Wild Life is the third travel book put together by the Atlas Obscura team. The first book, Atlas Obscura: An Explorer’s Guide to the World’s Hidden Wonders (2016), focused on extraordinary places and how to see them, and Gastro Obscura: A Food Adventurer’s Guide (2021) concentrated on unexpected dishes and culinary traditions and where to experience them. Like those two volumes, Atlas Obscura: Wild Life is a coffee table book that spotlights the strange and surprising, but this time, it’s all about our planet’s fauna and flora. And there’s a lot to cover.

Organized into seven chapters, each covering a different ecosystem, Atlas Obscura: Wild Life consists of 457 pages of fun facts and captivating explanations about the most bizarre creatures and plants that we share the planet with. The texts are short, and just about every entry is illustrated by colorful photographs and artwork. Also, this is not the kind of book you read through from cover to cover — it’s better enjoyed slowly and bit by bit over the space of weeks, months, or even years. Just leave it to rest near your couch or a comfy armchair, and pick it up when you want to be blown away by all curious living things that make up our world.

Reading the Galapagos Islands section of Atlas Obscura: Wild Life. Photo: Morgane Croissant

Due to my current obsession with the Galápagos Islands, I opened the book and went straight to the island section, which is the seventh and last chapter of this volume. Two double pages are dedicated to the archipelago and its unique inhabitants, and I hurried to read them. Despite having just spent seven days on site accompanied with two incredibly knowledgeable naturalist guides, I learned a few new things, including the fact that there are beautiful-looking and endangered land snails on the islands, and that ladybugs have been introduced to the Galápagos as recently as 2002 to control an invasive species. Who knew? Certainly not me. I also got to see and read about a bird that I unfortunately never managed to encounter during my trip: the vampire finch. The bloody photos used to enrich this entry are not for the faint of heart.

When I read everything there was to read about the Galápagos Islands, I flicked through the pages at random. I landed at the chapter dedicated to the fauna and flora living in the world’s cities (chapter six), and learned about the two-ton hippopotamus that wanders the streets of St. Lucia, South Africa, every night to come and munch on people’s lawns. Another random browse through led me to the chapter covering grassland and tundras (chapter two), where I was reminded of the deadliness of the Indian cobra and the unique eye-like pattern featured on its hood. No matter what chapter or page you choose to read, you’re sure to run into something odd and enchanting you’d never heard about before.

Photo: Morgane Croissant

Besides the wealth of knowledge that fill the pages of Atlas Obscura: Wild Life, what I like best about this book is the precise yet casual approach to zoology and botany that the authors took. There’s no jargon or long-winded scientific explanations to be found. The descriptions and photo captions are concise, simple, and humorous, making this book accessible to all, even those whose last biology class was 20 years ago.

Here’s an example of the authors opting to use straightforward language and a relatable comparison to describe the very unusual-looking bleeding tooth fungi:

“Squint and cock your hear to the side, and you can convince yourself that the red goo on its cap looks like raspberry jam on an English muffin, or perhaps the bedazzled head of a cauliflower.”

Another element that makes this book special are the dozens of mini expert interviews found at regular intervals in each chapter. From an ocean entomologist to a moss-gathering mountaineer, a tortoise adoption coordinator to a crow-human conflict mediator, you’ll get inside knowledge of what it’s like to work among the unique fauna and flora described on the pages.

You don’t have to be a wildlife-watching expert, an animal lover, or even a world traveler to enjoy Atlas Obscura: Wild Life, you only need to be curious and open to the fact that the world we live in is a weird, wonderful place that’s worth exploring and preserving.

Atlas Obscura: Wild Life is available now on Amazon and Kindle.