Nic's New Zealand Nature: Wild Buddies ... and Baddies - Friendships and Unusual Relationships in Nature

New Holland Publishers, Auckland, 2012, A5 size, 64 pages.

Have you heard the phrase 'you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours?' New Zealand's plants, animals, fungi and other tiny organisms grew to live in, on and around each other, with very little interference from the rest of the world, since separating from Gondwana over 80 million years ago. This has created many unusual relationships in the wild - some friendly and some not so friendly! With highly readable text, fascinating facts and superb photographs by Rod Morris, Nicola Vallance explores the co-existence of New Zealand wildlife through one-sided friendships, pesky parasites and win-win relationships. From tuataras snuggling up to seabirds and rata trees that like to piggyback rimu trees, to worms that can take over the minds of wetas! When one part of an ecosystem disappears or fails, it can have cascading effects throughout the chain and even affect us. In Wild Buddies and Baddies, readers will discover how everything is connected, how relationships in the wild really work and our role in the environment - are humans 'baddies', 'buddies'', or both? The Series Wild Buddies and Baddies is the second title in 'Nic's New Zealand Nature' series for children. The first title in the series, Invaders: Animals from elsewhere that are causing trouble here, was also a collaboration between Nic and Rod.