This time, it's a living thing!
At the Edge of Extinction, Asking About Survival
The story of life that is right next to us, but we didn't know about.

This book is a record of an intellectual exploration that follows the evolutionary journey of survival and makes us reflect on the grandeur and wonder of life.
"The Kingdom of Creatures" delves into the vast drama of survival that has unfolded over the past billions of years on this vast stage called Earth, where we stand, to ask, "What is life?"
From birds, the descendants of dinosaurs and rulers of the skies, to penguins that survived on the Antarctic ice with cooperation and patience, to honey badgers with a tenacious vitality that resists poison, to ground sloths that survived with a unique strategy of slowness, and finally to humans, the only living creatures that attempt to evolve through technology, transcending the laws of nature.
Through the survival stories of diverse creatures, this book reminds readers of the oldest and most steadfast law of the biological kingdom: evolution.

The book is divided into four parts, each following a grand narrative that explores life and evolution, ecosystems and civilization, and the universe.
Part 1 introduces the survival strategies of creatures that have survived in unique ways, such as eagles, snakes, eels, and deer, and shows how nature has maintained life through a variety of solutions.
Part 2 examines the organic nature and complexity of the Earth's ecosystem through stories of climate change, ecological upheaval, and the creatures that have adapted to it.
In particular, creatures that pose a new threat in unfamiliar environments, such as the 'shaman frog,' make readers question the meaning of biodiversity and ecosystem disruption.

In Part 3, the story shifts to a human-centric focus.
Humanity, which has harnessed fire, sought gold, understood lightning, and sought to unlock the secrets of the senses, is now faced with the question of whether it can become a being that transcends nature.
And in the final fourth part, the stage of the question expands beyond Earth to space.
The possibility of extraterrestrial life, the magnetic fields of Mars and Venus, and other issues are not simply the stuff of science fiction, but are concretized as scientific questions: Are we truly the only life forms in this universe?

"The Kingdom of Creatures" does not simply talk about life because we are alive, but asks deeper questions such as "why did we survive?" and "how did we survive?"
Furthermore, the question ultimately turns to humans.
Are humans truly the "rulers" of this kingdom, or are they merely dots in the vast network of life? This book goes beyond a simple science textbook.
It is a vast treasure trove of reflections that cross over philosophy, biology, anthropology, and space science, questioning the essence of life and the reason for human existence.
『The Kingdom of Creatures』 promises one thing to its readers.
The moment you close this book, your perspective on life will change.
And that gaze will expand to a greater and deeper understanding that no longer focuses solely on humans.

“Our mustelids each have their own survival strategy.
What we have in common is that we are by no means easy beings, despite our outward appearances.
The skunk lives his way and I live mine.
And we don't touch each other.
That's how we survive in this harsh world.
This is survival.
The weak are only prey to the strong.
I accepted this law.
That's why I survived.
“I am a strong being.”
--- From "Honey Badger"

“My life is waiting.
I believe in the cycle of heaven.
The hunt begins, life ends, and my place is made.
“I fill that space quietly, without making a fuss, but as a necessary presence.”
--- From "The Eagle"

“But canines are not completely useless in case a predator appears.
I basically use a strategy of running away when I encounter a predator.
Running away quickly from the forest is my biggest survival strategy.
But sometimes there are situations you can't escape.
At such moments, the fangs are used as a last resort.
Of course I knew it well.
That the fangs would not pose enough of a threat to predators.
“We know very well that a small number cannot defeat a large number.”
--- From "Gorani"

“I am flying in the sky now.
I fly on the wind with countless other birds.
My bones are light, my feathers cut through the wind, and my eyes pierce the world.
I am alive here now.
That dinosaurs, life from the Mesozoic Era, are still alive and breathing today.
I wish people would realize that.
We are not extinct.
We changed, we adapted, we survived.
That's the power of evolution.
The great things disappear, but the small and flexible life survives.
We are the proof.”
--- From "Bird"

“An even more serious problem is the plastic waste discarded by humans.
Many baby turtles become trapped in plastic trash or bottles on their way to the beach.
These friends, who could have headed to the sea without any problems in nature, get lost and die because of human waste.
This is also a problem that humans must solve.”
--- From "Sea Turtle"

“I just nod and chew on the leaves.
His back supported the ground, and moss grew on my back.
He stood on the world and I am hanging on to the world.
Although our ways of surviving were different, we had something in common.
“We were all silent creatures.”
--- From "The Sloth"

“I don’t stay in one place.
The desert is alive.
The desert changes.
Even though it may seem like we've stopped at first glance, our sands breathe and move forward at their own pace.
When we accumulate, we become land, when we become land, civilization arises, and when civilization arises, we disappear again.
I've repeated it countless times.
“I am not destruction, I am transformation.”
--- From "Desert"

“Ultimately, we have become beings who bring about change in the ecosystem in a certain sense.
For better or worse, our existence has changed the world.
“I and my fellow human beings, burdened with enormous responsibilities in this small body, will continue to live in harmony with the world, and in the process, we must not forget that humans and nature must take even greater care of each other to maintain the balance of the ecosystem.”
--- From "The Shaman's Frog"

“Biologically, modern humans are no different from Homo sapiens of 300,000 years ago.
But we know so much more, we create so much more, and we dominate the planet.
The beginning of all these differences is fire.
Fire allowed us to overcome climate change, turn night into day, and store and cook food.
“In the end, it made us ‘human.’”
--- From "Fire and Gold"

“As lightning passes through the body, it follows areas with high electrical conductivity, such as blood vessels, nerves, and muscles.
And when it reaches the exit, it explodes.
This is why lightning can cause more damage where it exits than where it first hits the body.
As if the exit of a bullet is much larger and deeper than the entrance when it penetrates the body.
Current flows and creates heat.
The heat rises from within and bursts out when it meets the insulator called air.
And the traces of this remain on our bodies as Lichtenberg patterns.
Nature loves repetition.
Small streams gather to become a river, and small branches gather to become a forest.
And sometimes, when electricity from the sky passes through a human body, that body also becomes a terrain, a forest.
When a branch-like mark is left on the body, it is a natural phenomenon.
The only difference is that it happened on human flesh.”
--- From "Lightning"

“Before eyes were formed, life had no purpose.
I just floated around in the water, swallowing whatever came into my mouth, dodging to avoid them, and if I ran into them, it was over.
It was a time when survival was everything, without will or goal.
But with the development of eyes, life was able to decide where to go.
Vision has become not just an organ for receiving information, but a sense that creates direction and will.
The human eye is the culmination of all this evolution.
Our ability to perceive light, perceive direction, focus, distinguish color, and read emotions stems from a long journey that began hundreds of millions of years ago, starting with a concave light-sensing spot.
--- From "The Human Eye"

“Evolution always goes from simple to complex.
Complex life forms do not arise from the beginning.
Even on Earth, early life existed in extremely simple forms.
It took simple bacteria and single-celled organisms billions of years to evolve into more complex forms.
During this process, the accidental event of sexual reproduction explosively accelerated that evolution.
Ultimately, the existence of the Earth and humanity is the result of countless coincidences and mutations.
A similar coincidence may have given rise to intelligent life on other planets elsewhere in the universe, but we have no idea whether they will look anything like us.
And we cannot predict when they will appear.
It may already be extinct, or it may just be transitioning from single-celled to complex life.
--- From "Alien Civilization"

"Ultimately, among the eight planets, Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, and Heaven, Earth is the only one that has a surface and maintains a strong magnetic field.
Mercury is small and cool, Venus is too slow, and Mars has already cooled.
On the other hand, the Earth is still actively moving inside, with a reasonable size, heat, and rotation speed.
The outer core is still convecting, and its magnetic field constantly arises from its rotation.
And this magnetic field blocks the solar wind, protects life, and maintains the reliability of GPS and satellite communications.
We are creatures who must live on earth.
And of all the planets with land, only Earth is protected by a full magnetic field.
We need water to live, air to breathe, and light to get energy, but underneath it all lies the invisible hand of magnetic fields.
Because that hand has constantly been surrounding the Earth, we have been able to continue a quiet but stable evolution.

--- From "Magnetic Field"