Table of Contents

Introduction

PART 1: THIS IS A DEAD FROG
Chapter 1: Life and Death in the Universe
Chapter 2: Senescence and What Waits for the Lucky Few
Chapter 3: Fear and Loathing in Birchwood
Chapter 4: Free Radicals and the Secrets Within
Chapter 5: This is a Dead Frog

PART 2: THE EXPERIMENTAL PIG PHASE
Chapter 6: The Circus under the Tent
Chapter 7: Sex and Death: The Contract Killer
Chapter 8: Coffee with the Widow-maker
Chapter 9: Suicide, Snowy Owls and the Executioner Insider
Chapter 10: This is Not a Sheep
Chapter 11: The Grotto Salamander and the Guano
Chapter 12: The Horrid Ground-weaver
Chapter 13: Dark Matters

PART 3: JOURNEY TO THE END OF THE SHITATITE
Chapter 14: Bring out your Dead Ants
Chapter 15: Mourning has Broken
Chapter 16: Who Wants to Live Forever?
Chapter 17: No, this is a Dead Frog

Epilogue: The Meaning of the Loa Loa
Acknowledgements
Index

Promotional Information

There is nothing more life-affirming than understanding death in all its forms

About the Author

Jules Howard is a zoologist, writer, blogger and broadcaster. He writes on a host of topics relating to zoology and wildlife conservation, writing regularly for BBC Wildlife Magazine and the Guardian, and on radio and TV including BBC Breakfast, Sunday Brunch, Springwatch and BBC 5 Live. Jules also runs a social enterprise that has brought 100,000 young people closer to the natural world. Death on Earth is his second book, following 2014's Sex on Earth.

www.juleshoward.co.uk / @juleshoward

Reviews

An altogether eye-opening, engaging, and enjoyably humorous (but never distasteful) guided tour through the world of death.
*Science*

What becomes clear in this impossibly bouncy, Tiggerish work is that living things have more ways of dying than we could ever imagine.
*Daily Mail*

... funny, clever, but also chock full of science ... a book that's a genuine pleasure to read.
*Discover Magazine*

A fascinating read that offers incredible snippets about how life is never wasted, and provides a fresh, less gloomy outlook on our ultimate fate.
*BBC Wildlife*

Death on Earth fizzes with with life. Howard, whether dressed in waterproof trousers to protect him from rotting pig flesh, or clutching a dead magpie to his chest while looking for a suitable place to watch it decay, makes for the most extraordinary psychopomp. I cried with laughter as he tackled this most persistent of taboos, and yet at the same time was strangely moved by the intensity of his care. It has been oddly reassuring to walk alongside Jules on his exploration of the last great frontier.
*Katharine Norbury, author of The Fish Ladder*

Jules Howard celebrates wonderful, vibrant life in the face of death. Drawing on what we can learn from the living, from the cells in your body to geriatric clams and naked mole rats, he allows us to approach and even appreciate why lives, like all good stories, have endings.
*Brian Switek, author of My Beloved Brontosaurus*

Hidden in a breezy overview of death in the animal kingdom rages a life-and-death war that puts into perspective our human struggles with mortality. Death on Earth gives us insight into who we are and why we are special - and not so special - when compared to our animal brethren.
*Megan Rosenbloom, director of Death Salon*