Birds Brilliant and Bizarre

This book reveals how birds have survived for millions of years and describes their surprising and sometimes shocking behaviors and physical abilities, from zebra finches that sing while they dream, to vampire finches that feast on blood.

Modern birds are living dinosaurs that have evolved to become one of the most successful groups of animals on the planet – from the common pigeon to the colorful monal.

Birds: Brilliant and Bizarre explains how, when it came to survival, it was birds who had the edge, outliving their reptile ancestors to become one of the most diverse groups of animals in the natural world. It also explores the incredible adaptations which evolved over millions of years, and how birds can rapidly adapt to survive, responding quickly to local change.

Finally it explores what extraordinary adaptations birds could evolve next and imagines a world where birds and people might thrive together.

Jo Cooper is senior curator of the avian anatomical collections at the Natural History Museum. Across both the avian osteological and spirit collections, this includes some 35,000 specimens in total.

Beccy Speight is the CEO of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds.