Secret Stories of Lost Beasts: A Field Guide to Uncover Earth's Ancient Animals

The secret lives and amazing adaptations of past creatures are revealed in this beautifully illustrated compendium of Earth’s long-gone beasts.

Buried far beneath the ground are secret stories of ancient lands. Stories from a time when dinosaurs with tails as big as whales towered over trees, birds had teeth, and super-fast sharks with saws for jaws swam through oceans and seas.

Earth’s amazing animals may be lost in time, but they are no longer forgotten.

From dinosaurs and sea beasts, to giant bugs, birds and Ice Age mammals, these spectacular species were once to be seen stomping, roaring, soaring and crawling across land, sky and sea – but are now extinct and lost forever.
 
In this beautifully illustrated follow-up to Secret Stories of Nature, you can uncover the fascinating histories of Earth’s most astounding extinct animals, from iconic beasts such as Tyrannosaurus rex, the woolly mammoth and the dodo, to jaw-dropping creatures such as a dragonfly-relative the size of a pigeon and a tiny sea beast that looked like a cartoon character. 

When did giant bugs zoom through the skies and how did these creepy-crawlies become so colossal? Which dinosaurs had feathers and why is T. rex the most famous dinosaur of all time? How did mammals survive the giant asteroid? Which extinct animal had a boomerang-shaped head and which one was a mishmash of a bird, pig, crocodile and armoured armadillo? The answers to these secrets are waiting for you within!

You'll discover how scientists past and present have used research, observation and fossil records to piece these stories together and unravel their secrets. Intriguingly, some secrets are yet to be revealed, while others are rewritten when exciting new information changes what we think we know.

As well as discovering ancient animals, you can learn about beautiful beasts that have sadly been lost in recent years, but also the remarkable stories of animals once thought to be extinct – but which have been rediscovered. 

Finally, at the back of the book you can learn how to help protect creatures that are critically endangered and their habitats. We can all work together to preserve our beautiful planet and its rich biodiversity!

The fascinating text from children’s author Saskia Gwinn is brought to life by gorgeously detailed, vintage-style artwork from Vasilisa Romanenko, making this a perfect gift book for the whole family to share. 

Saskia Gwinn has spent nearly 20 years carefully crafting beautiful books to inspire kids of all ages. She has worked as Head of Children’s Non-fiction for Bloomsbury Publishing (UK), as Editorial Director for A&C Black, and as Editor for educational publishers and magazines. She has written and published award-winning books for every age and on every topic, from how time began to the silliest things in the world today. Her books include Secrets from the North Pole and Secrets from the Fairy World—where she has “helped” Santa’s Head Elf, and the Guardian of the Great Fairy Tree, to share the secrets of their magical worlds. 

Vasilisa Romanenko is a Connecticut-based illustrator, designer, and fine artist. She creates paintings and drawings inspired by botany, natural history, and textile design. Her artwork depicts the mystery, beauty, and fragility of nature through the use of botanical elements, intricate patterns, and vivid colors. Vasilisa sees her paintings as windows into a magical world, much like the one she enjoyed getting lost in as a child while reading fairy tales. She creates artwork using both traditional and digital mediums. Vasilisa graduated with a degree in Illustration from the Fashion Institute of Technology.