Animal London

Book excerpt: Dragons guarding gateways, elephants in parks, sea monsters on gables--this quirky guidebook introduces the animals that hide amidst the iconic London landscape London is full of animals. They are hidden in crumbling graveyards, daubed in canal-bank graffiti, and perched atop rooftops, but in the hustle-and-bustle at street level they are all too often overlooked. This guidebook full of gorgeous photography brings to life the animal artworks that give London its unique character. From rabbits, owls, dogs, and cats to tortoises, dolphins, sharks, and gorillas, a menagerie of creatures inhabits every corner of the city from Tobacco Docks to Crystal Palace, Bankside to Hackney. They span both ancient and modern too: monstrous medieval gargoyles lurk down damp alleyways, while in a modern urban wasteland there lives a "mechanosaurous" made out of car parts by scrap merchants. From the moment a reader spies one in the undergrowth of a neglected park, or spots for the first time one clinging to the parapet of a classic landmark, they will have embarked on a remarkable topographical treasure hunt.