Photographs by Art Wolfe, Jim Brandenburg, Jeff Foot, Frans Lanting, and others Long before Noah’s Ark, courtship inside the animal kingdom was as much a mystery as sex is among humankind, truly one of the mighty, irresistible instincts that dominate all living things. Three hundred millions years ago, when the earth was virtually silent, lush trees rose on hundred feet to form the forest canopy, veiling streams of tropical rain and golden light. Slow-moving rivers teemed with exotic trilobites (creatures resembling horseshoe crabs). Animals began to break their bonds with the sea, and instead of simply dividing in half and cloning, sex came to be, with two creatures fusing as one. Male and female, they developed. Millennia later, we count over a million species, with possibly another million, mostly insects, remaining to be discovered. CATHERINE CHERMAYEFF is president of Umbra Editions, Inc. She was formerly the director of special projects at Magnum Photos, where she developed exhibitions and books. She currently lives in New York City. NAN RICHARDSON is an editor and writer who has worked on over fifty books for Aperture, Simon & Schuster, and Random House, among others. Ms. Richardson has contributed to such publications as Granta, Art News, and Mother Jones. She lives in New York City. Hardcover / $16.95 7.5" x 8.75" / 80 pages Full color photographs Spring 2006 ISBN: 978-1-8841675-08 Website price: $10