On a barren seafloor, the pearlfish swims into the safety of a sea cucumber s anus. To find a meal, the female bolas spider releases pheromones that mimic a female moth, luring male moths into her sticky lasso web. The Glyptapanteles wasp injects a caterpillar with her young, which feed on the victim, erupt out of it, then mind-control the poor (and somehow still living) schmuck into protecting them from predators. These are among the curious critters...

Nancy is surfing on a secluded beach, and finds herself on the feeding ground of a great white shark. Though she is stranded only 200 yards from shore, survival proves to be the ultimate test of wills, requiring all of Nancy's ingenuity, resourcefulness, and fortitude.

"Birds, butterflies, beaver and antelope, wildflowers and frogs -- could their survival possibly be connected to top predators like the wolf and cougar? For those who have seldom given thought to the great predators so often missing from the web of life, there is a world of reason to think again...[J]ourney to the heart of predator country: the Yellowstone plateau; the canyons of Zion; and the rugged country of Idaho and Minnesota, to learn from scientists...