Yossi Yovel The Genius Bat Understanding our most mysterious mammal 336pp. Oneworld. £20. Philosophy begins with wonder, according to Plato and Aristotle. As for philosophy, so, and more so, for biolo

Clouds of noxious gas, stink bombs and purple smokescreens may sound like schoolboy pranks, but the animal world is just as capable of executing arresting chemical warfare, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee

From her Yorkshire smallholding, Sally Coulthard marvels at the superpowers of crepuscular creatures that emerge in the magical half-light of dawn and dusk

Amazing answers to your curious questions

This is your second book about exploring the countryside after dark; what intrigues you about nightwalking? Full disclosure. I began nightwalking out of necessity, since the village pub that sold Wadw

Fluid in flight and perplexingly wide-ranging, the short-eared owl is a singular figure in the family– and a figure of particular terror to the vole