Ian Sheldon is an accomplished artist, nature illustrator and ecologist, with a degree in ecology from Cambridge University. His studies have taken him around the world-throughout North and South America, Europe, Southeast Asia and South Africa.

TAMARA HARTSON, who also writes under the name TAMARA EDER, grew up with a fascination for nature and the diversity of life. Encouraged by her parents, Tamara was equipped from the age of six with a canoe, a dip net and a note pad. She has a degree in environmental conservation sciences and has photographed and written about the biodiversity in Bermuda, the Galapagos Islands, the Amazon Basin, China, Tibet, Vietnam, Thailand and Malaysia. When she is not traveling, Tamara enjoys writing and studying biodiversity. To date, she has authored or co-authored more than two dozen nature books.