What's it like beings married to Ram Whitaker – herpetologist, Wildlife conservationist, and founder of the Madras Snake Park and Madras Crocodile Bank? Janaki Lenin, his wife, tells us, 'There's never a dull moment.'

In this compilation of stories, Janaki – also an animal enthusiast- gives us a peek into the zany and unpredictable world that Rom and she have built together, deep in southern India. They ballet tree-frogs that insist on colonising their house, travel to the wilds of the world pursuing venomous snakes and monster crocodiles, devote precious hours to befriending Gila monsters playing with porcupines, and taming opinionated shrews.

Entertaining playful, and downright amusing, the essays shed light on the kingdoms of beasts and plants. They provide flashes of insight into animal disposition, relate human stories about the world and our place in it, and de-mystify nature's secret code. Most of all, they highlight Rom and Janaki's wide-eyed wonder at sharing this diverse planet with all creatures, large and small.

Janaki Lenin has always had an interest in animals but living with Rom took it to the stratospheric level. They lived in the Madras Crocodile Bank for a few years, surrounded by thousands of crocodiles, snakes, turtles, and lizards. Rom and Janaki made documentaries about wildlife in wild places for a living.

When they moved to their farm in rural Tamil Nadu, Janaki thought it would be a perfect retreat after the many arduous months of filming. Instead, a whole new set of challenges popped up - from pesky tree frogs and adamant Russell's vipers to a dog- eating leopard. She thinks she's made her peace with the many wild creatures who have staked claim to their farm, but who knows what tomorrow may bring. Rom and Janaki live with four dogs, a pair of emus, a flock of geese, and a pig. It's her childhood dream come true.

It seems these days as if people have forgotten their biological roots or lost interest in animals and plants or been led astray by modem attention-grabbers, such as celebrities, computer games and Facebook. The biodiversity of Planet Earth apparently doesn't matter any more, and this concerns me greatly.

It's clear that Janaki Lenin feels the same. Trying her hand at documentary film-making, she defied the television executives who wanted human personalities to dominate the screen in programmes about animals. And I am glad she did, as her rebelliousness gave impetus to her column in The Hindu, on which this book is based.

This delightful compendium goes a long way to filling the current gap in popular writing on the subjects of wildlife and natural history.

Like Gerald Durrell, my late husband and one of her heroes, Janaki demonstrates a refreshing breadth of interest in and knowledge of natural history, linking nature to her spouse, to all human endeavour, to God and the Universe!

The topics with which [anaki enchants her readers are incredibly diverse and always fascinating. Virgin birth in reptiles, how to train animals (including husbands), invasions by tree frogs and egrets, the innocuous-looking, but pain-inflicting devil nettle and the fabulous makara and fearsome kirtimukha of Hindu mythology are just a few of her themes.

More than this, Janaki, again like Gerald, uses humour, storytelling and an easy, gentle style to remind us of the links between humans and the other species on the planet. It is upon these relationships that civilization rests, although few admit it or even recognize it today. But think about it... from domestication of animals and plants, to love of the land, to inspiration derived from the intricacy, grandeur and beauty of nature, these connections make us humans what we are.

If our species is to persist, severing these connections is not possible, although, given our track record with the natural world, we seem to be trying hard to do so!

Janaki asks, '... what compels us humans to gobble and destroy our way through Earth's resources until there is no tomorrow?' The answer is that we have forgotten how we became human beings, how we evolved with and depended upon other species.

Janaki asks, 'Are we hell-bent on sending this unique life- sustaining planet to Saturn, the haunted house of Hindu astrology?' At present the appalling answer is certainly yes, but it doesn't have to be. If we can collectively recall our evolutionary history, acknowledge our dependence on the ecosystem functions sustained by biodiversity and behave as if we believe in it, then Earth ... and we ... will survive.