Product Description

The worlds preeminent nature photographer creates magical images of wildlife in camouflage. In this astonishing new book, legendary wildlife photographer Art Wolfe turns to one of natures most fundamental survival techniques: the vanishing act. His portraits show animals and insects relying on deception, disguises, lures, and decoys to disappear into their surroundings and so confuse the eye of the predator. In a world where nothing is as it appears to be, a lion blends into the tall grass in the late afternoon sun, a harp seal disappears against his snowy backdrop. Pastel orchids can suddenly morph into predatory praying mantises; lizard heads become tails. What at first appears to be a torn and decomposing leaf on a forest floor in Peru suddenly sprouts legs and starts walking: it is a leaf-mimic katydid. Spotting each hidden animal amid Wolfes clever compositions is both a fun and informative game. At a time when many species are performing permanent vanishing acts due to habitat loss and human encroachment, this book showcases the beauty and evolutionary brilliance of animal behavior and artfully illustrates the tenacious will to stay alive in an eat-or-be-eaten world.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #45450 in Books
• Published on: 2005-11-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 144 pages

From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. The photos in this beautiful large-format (13½"×12") book are visual puzzles of a sort: you must try to find the animal hidden in its surroundings. Captions are at the back of the book, so the images are undisturbed by text and you can try to solve the puzzle on your own. Wolfe, a winner of the National Audubon Society's Rachel Carson Award and other prizes for nature photography, offers a closeup illustration of one of the best tricks in the natural world—animals' ability to blend into their environments in order to hide from predators. Even a lion's eyes match the tawny tall grasses of the African savanna through which he peers; a rock-colored pika (a relative of the rabbit) lies on a stone amid fallen autumn leaves; an Arctic hare seems no more than a shadow in Canadian snowdrifts; and a pink pygmy seahorse, just one-third of an inch long, mimics remarkably the web of coral in which it hides. In Rwanda, Panama, Papua New Guinea and a wide range of habitats, Wolfe's remarkably crisp images are a visual delight for nature lovers. (Nov.)
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About the Author
Art Wolfe is one of the world's most popular nature photographers and a passionate wildlife advocate. He has released more than 60 books and founded Wildlands Press in 2000. He has won the Alfred Eisenstaedt Magazine Photography Award, The National Audubon Society's Rachel Carson Award, and was named Outstanding Nature Photographer of the Year by the North American Nature Photography Association. When not traveling the globe, Wolfe is based in Seattle.

Barbara Sleeper is a contributing editor to Animals magazine and has traveled to more than eighty countries and written more than 200 articles for national and international publications. She has written the text for two of Art Wolfe's previous books: Migrations and Primates.

Customer Reviews

Awesome Book
Bought this for a Christmas and everyone wanted to look through it before I gave it away. It is great fun for all ages!!!

This coffee-table book is fabulous.
I purchased this book as a gift for my elderly grandma. Both she and the rest of my family enjoy looking through the beautiful photos to spot the camouflaged animals.

The Best!
This is such an amazing and wonderful book of photos taken by Art Wolfe. "Vanishing Act" refers to the natural camouflage of living beings as they blend into their environment, as a means of self-preservation.

Honestly, I have had to look at some of the pictures 3 or 4 times before I could locate the animal, insect, bird, etc. that was lurking there. There is a "cheat sheet" in the back of the book, but I am determined to locate these creatures without resorting to outside help.

It is so amazing that I could look at a large picture 3 or 4 times and not see what I was looking at; however, once you see it clearly you can't understand how you could have missed it in the first place. Isn't nature grand? I have two of Art Wolfe's works hanging on my walls and they are the first things commented on by any visitor to my home.

Buy this book!