I like bats. No, don't turn away. Let me explain why. Ever since I taught a young bat to fly twenty years ago, they hold a special place in my heart. Demonio showed me there's more to bats than meets the eye; you can read his story here. A decade later, when I lived in North Luangwa National Park, in Zambia, another bat found its way into my hands. I was working at my laptop in broad daylight when: "I heard a soft plop. At first I thought it was the husk of a spider. But I pi

When it comes to nature, there is nothing that pleases my son more than small creatures. One of my earliest photos of Luca shows him as a baby, playing with a pair of beetles. Even then he knew how to handle them, his fingers gentle but sure. Once, when he was six years old and we had just arrived at the Inca ruins of Pisac, Luca spotted something and wandered off to investigate. We grown-ups were still dithering around the car, checking we had our hats and water and toilet p