From the deadly black widow spider and the terrifying great white shark to the twenty-five-foot-long man-eating crocodile, many of these animals deserve their fearsome reputations. Other creatures, like the rat and the cockroach, may make our skin crawl, yet they also possess amazing survival skills. And some of these unappreciated animals are actually not the monsters they appear to be—such as the shy eight-armed octopus and the peaceful giant devil ray. Pairing eye-popping, oversize photographs with riveting descriptions, award-winning author Seymour Simon reveals the truth about twenty of nature's most fascinating—and most misunderstood—animals.