LIES (PEOPLE BELIEVE) ABOUT ANIMALS

Armadillos give birth to two sets of identical twins, all the same sex, and can carry leprosy. The most common natural cause of an elephant's death is starvation, because at a certain age all of its teeth fall out. Want to know more? This array of uncommon but true facts about 11 animals (there's a catch-all chapter at the end that briefly discusses several more) will delight browsers, as will the sharply clear black-and-white photographs. The authors encourage the view that, though one should be careful around wild animals, they are usually not actively out to eat you--Leavitt's horrific close-ups of bat and hairy tarantula notwithstanding. The photographer has posed his subjects expertly; but since they are displayed against a white background and seem to be about the same size (imagine an armadillo the size of a bear), readers won't get much idea of scale. Intriguing, informal, indexed and with bibliography.