All nature's children are engaged in a constant struggle: to eat or to escape being eaten; to live or to die. This is the eternal war for survival, sometimes referred to as the Great Chain of Life, in which the majority of individuals are sacrificed so that others may grow and live. In the course of this struggle, some extraordinary deceptions and defenses have been developed by various creatures.

Nature's Pretenders explores the most fascinating of these: the insects that look so much like sticks or twigs that it is al- most impossible for predators to recognize them; the harmless snake that has grown to resemble its deadly poisonous cousin; the fish that goes fishing for its own prey with a line dangling from the end of its snout; the bird that feigns a broken wing or leg to protect its nest and young; the spider that lassos its prey with a string of silk.

In a lively, authoritative text, noted science writer Alice L. Hopf takes a look at the pretenders and hiders, the hunters and stalkers—more than eighteen species of nature's incredible deceivers.

From the dust jacket