The former USSR - now the Commonwealth of Independent States - covers almost one-sixth of the Earth's total land area - an area equivalent to twice that of North America and 70 times that of the British Isles, and embracing 11 time-zones. Straddling Europe and Asia, this mighty country boasts a wealth of natural landscapes and wildlife worthy of its vast dimensions. Accompanying a six-part BBC2 series, this book focuses on the grandeur of CIS landscapes and their distinctive wildlife. It takes the reader on a safari from the Russian Arctic with its great white polar bears, shaggy musk oxen, dainty pink Ross's gulls and dapper red-breasted geese, south to the Karakum Desert of Central Asia, where wild asses roam amidst pistachio savannahs, and where real-life dragons, in the shape of desert monito lizards, stalk their prey. The author was the producer of the award-winning Life On Earth series. His other books include Parrots: a Natural History.