CLEOPATRA'S SNAIL: Natural history stories about snails and other animals

This “digital pocketbook” is composed of short natural history stories, mostly about snails, but also about other animals, and their often-overlooked presence along with human history. Instead of just describing their biology, the author imprints on each narration all the mystery and curiosity subjacent in these creatures and their relationship with nature.

The book includes two chapters. The first chapter, it develops the relationship between snails and the history of humanity, capturing the timeline from the antiquity of Cleopatra herself to snails in the land of Vlad Tepes, a.k.a. Dracula. It reveals how, despite the tiny size of most species, snails have used unsuspected ways to conquer the most isolated corners of the planet. Finally, these stories unveil curious behaviors and still-mysterious biological associations with other animals. In chapter two, you will meet other animals, not less important of course to human history: combining literature, science, and everyday life, the book explores little known stories of insects, velvet worms, dinosaurs, lizards, and birds. The range of subjects is wide, including phylogeny, the fossil record, behavior, ecological interactions, much natural history, and even humorous mathematics.

Katherine Bonilla Badilla, Editor, Costa Rica.