“What’s that?” It’s the most common question I get asked by my three-year-old at home. I don’t want to dampen his curiosity or interest in exploring the world around him, but sometimes I just don’t have the answers. However, I have found the solution!

During recent background work into developing a teaching unit, I referred to a Queensland Museum publication “Wildlife of Greater Brisbane”.

This book had all the answers that a curious child (and adult) wants to know, from birds to bats, frogs to fishes, and grasshoppers to butterflies, with all the creepy crawlies in between. It’s small enough to take in a backpack while walking, but large enough to answer almost all “What’s that?” questions.

The book is full of colour photos for easy animal identification and also gives a small physical and habitat description. It would make a great addition to any high school biologist’s library and has scientific names provided for all specimens.

Wildlife of Greater Brisbane includes all the wildlife of Brisbane, not just the native species; so it is valuable for identifying introduced and pest species for environmental studies as well.

Wildlife of Greater Brisbane is available from the Explorer Shop at Queensland Museum and other good book retailers. For more information on buying Wildlife of Greater Brisbane on-line, or any other Queensland Museum publication, this link should help.