Tag Archives: Animals

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The Secret Lives of Animals: Book Review

On the heels of their highly successful and informative books, The Truth About Nature and The Kids’ Outdoor Adventure Book, authors Stacy Tornio and Ken Keffer are back with another delightful and fact-filled book that illuminates nature, The Secret Lives of Animals: 1,001 Tidbits, Oddities & Amazing Facts about North America’s Coolest Animals. Also returning for the third book is talented illustrator Rachel Riordan.

Secret_Lives_of_Animals_Book

Like their other titles, The Secret Lives of Animals is colorful, easy to use, and appealing from start to finish. Animals are helpfully grouped by category, and each gets its moment in the sun, with illustrations, details and little-known facts.

Kids who are curious about animals will learn a lot about their favorites, as well as some creatures they’ve never heard of. Those who want to get outside to experience animals directly will find plenty of ideas. There is also terrific general science information to help explain concepts like migrations, taxonomies, the continental shelf, anadromous fish (I had never heard that term either), metamorphosis, keystone species, and how to tell a horn from an antler.

Inspired by the book, my family and I returned to some of our favorite activities, like crabbing, tidepooling, and making a bird feeder to attract and feed and local birds. We also took a walk to identify squirrel nests, looked at a spider web with a magnifying glass, and listened for animal sounds at night.

SFBay_Crabbing_6

tidestarfish

In addition, we learned a lot of fun facts about our animal friends and devised a quiz based on the tidbits in the book. See how well you do! (answers below.)

               Secret Lives of Animals Unofficial Quiz

  1. How do prairie dogs help their local grass?
  2. Are caribou and reindeer the same species?
  3. Do sockeye salmon change color after they spawn?
  4. What are baby mice sometimes called?
  5. Which animal dates back more than 300 million years and had a wingspan of up to 2 feet?
  6. Can you tell how old a rattlesnake is by counting the number of rattles?
  7. The Giant Pacific species of what animal weighs more than 600 pounds?
  8. How many species of fly are there?
  9. Can a sponge grow to be bigger than a human?
  10. What animal did Benjamin Franklin propose as America’s national bird, rather than the Bald Eagle?

                Quiz Answers

  1. They keep it trimmed.
  2. Yes.
  3. Yes.
  4. Pinkies.
  5. Dragonfly.
  6. No.
  7. Giant Octopus.
  8. 150,000.
  9. Yes.
  10. Turkey.

If you enjoyed playing along, you will enjoy The Secret Lives of Animals! I have one copy to give away. To enter, leave a comment below, listing either your favorite animal or one you want to learn more about. I’ll choose a winner using a random generator by Midnight, PST, Weds, Nov. 4. The winner will be notified by email.

See CHIMPANZEE, Save Chimpanzees

Did you know that you can help the world’s chimpanzee population simply by seeing a movie? The movie, Chimpanzee, which opens Friday, highlights the plight of chimpanzees, which are gravely endangered — 100 years ago, roughly 1 million chimpanzees lived in the lush rainforests of equatorial Africa. Today, only 1/10 of them remain, primarily due to habitat loss and illegal hunting. African ape populations are expected to decline by an additional 80% in the next 30-40 years.

Disney and Disneynature have teamed with the Jane Goodall Institute to bring this story to life, which is told through a curious and entertaining young chimp named Oscar and his triumphs and family bonds.

Disney founder Walt Disney was a pioneer in wildlife filmmaking, and Disneynature continues to bring the world’s top nature filmmakers together to share wildlife stories in the hopes of inspiring and educating people about nature.

The Jane Goodall Institute has been working in Africa for almost 35 years and developed out of the research begun by Dr. Goodall in 1960. Said Dr. Jane Goodall:

Together, we can truly make a difference and are thrilled to have Disneynature join our efforts to protect chimpanzee habitats, care for orphaned chimpanzees in the Republic of Congo and educate a new generation of young people and connect them to nature

Here’s where you come in:

For every moviegoer who sees Chimpanzee during the film’s opening week (April 20-26, 2012), Disneynature will make a donation to JGI through the Disney Worldwide Conservation Fund in order to protect chimpanzees and their habitats, now and into the future.

Will you see Chimpanzee opening week? I will! Take the pledge by leaving a comment here.

Dr. Jane Goodall Photo: Stuart Clarke

Chimpanzee Photo: Disney

Love in Nature and History

Regarding matters of love, I trust many of our animal friends, especially these sweet roseate spoonbills and other birds that mate for life. Then again, the natural world also features its share of preening and downright aggression — witness the hippo, who sprays his future mate with feces. Lovely!

Valentine’s Day has long taken various cues from nature. Long before the Roman emperor Gelasius, and then the Catholic church, proclaimed February 14th a holy day named for the martyred St. Valentine (who refused to forsake Christianity while in prison and sent love letters signed “from your Valentine” to the jailer’s daughter), the Romans celebrated mid-winter with Lupercalia fertility festivals, in which young Roman males sacrificed goats to Lupercal, the wolf deity, before frolicking in goatskin loincloths and striking young women with goatskin thongs. Geoffrey Chaucer and the poets of the Medieval era linked valentine symbolism to birds, and specifically lovebirds, whom they observed beginning their mating rituals in early spring.

Here are a few fun nature valentine links. Happy Day of Love!

Till Death Do Us Part: Birds that Mate for Life, Audubon Magazine

Love in the Wild: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Flickr Set

Bizarre Animal Mating Rituals, Science Discovery

How Seabirds Send Letters to their Mates, National Wildlife Federation

A Holiday for Real Animals, National Wildlife Federation

Valentine’s Day, a Holiday for the Birds, Audubon Magazine

10 Interesting Lovebirds to See in the Midwest, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Midwest

Why is Love Related to the Heart-Shaped Symbol?, Aphrodite, Hub Pages

Hearts in Nature: A Valentine’s Day Scavenger Hunt, Slow Family Online

How Green is Your Love Life? Sierra Club Quiz

Photos: Roseate Spoonbill Courtship Dance, Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, FL, Michael Rosenbaum; Atlantic Puffins (who court in groups), David Ian Roberts; Swans, Unknown; Week-old black-footed ferret kits born at the National Black-Footed Ferret Conservation Center in WY, Kimberly Tamkun/USFWS; Cardinal Courtship, Howard Cheek; Lovebirds, Unknown; Sea Otters Holding Hands (to prevent drift while sleeping), Joe Mess.

Valentine’s Day history is mostly courtesy of the wonderful The Book of the Year: A Brief History of Seasonal Holidays, Anthony Aveni

This Moment 6.18

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember.

Inspired by Amanda Blake Soule and legions of lovely bloggers.

I hope you’ll be similarly inspired and leave a link with your own “moment.” I’d love to see it.

Have a great weekend!

Tamalpais High pool, the first day of summer vacation.

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