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Animal Earth is an unbiased tour of this still largely undiscovered world, illuminating the bizarre appearances and hidden lives of the creatures that share our planet, but which we’ve rarely, if ever, seen.What is perhaps more surprising is that this bewildering range of animal species can be traced to a small number of lineages, sharing a common body plan and evolutionary history. Animal Earth not only provides an evenhanded summary of each but also reflects the latest research on the evolutionary relationships between species. How they all fit in the tree of life is a topic that has been debated for decades, not least because new species are being discovered all the time; some lesser-known lineages, such as the Chaetognatha (arrow worms) and Xenoturbellida (strange worms) continue to defy classification.
