My husband and I saw this book in a large bookstore chain last week and were totally intrigued. It was displayed near the checkout counter and the colorful cover photo of the fierce, unusual mandrill caught our eye.
When I picked up the book, it was HEAVY. Very heavy. It weighs more than my cats! (We're talking about eleven pounds here.)
We flipped through the pages, utterly fascinated by the arresting color photos and intriguing information offered for hundreds of animals. Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians, Fish, Invertabrates--they're all here.
Animal: The Definitive Visual Guide to the World's Wildlife introduces readers to the principles of classification and even provides a colorful chart for the classification levels. The book describes Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and Species and how they apply to all the animals. (Remember 8th grade biology and having to learn all this?!). Throughout the book, mini-charts are extrapolated for each creature so you know their classification at a glance.
For example, tiger classification would be:
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Order: Carnivora
Family: Felidae
Genus: Panthera
Species: Panthera tigris
In addition to the classification system, the Introduction discusses Habitats such as grasslands, desert, tropical forest, mountains, polar regions, coral reefs, and more.
The colorful photographs are stunning, showing a wide variety of species. For example, you won't find one type of monkey. You'll find many--*with* color pictures and stats.
Designed in an easy-to-read encyclopedic format, extensive data--including unusual facts--are provided for the creatures, including:
*Location (With mini-map)
*Habitat symbols
*Weight
*Social Unit (Mammals only)
*Migration
*Plumage (Birds only)
*Breeding
*Classification key
*Status (Common, Vulnerable, Endangered, etc.)
and much more.
The sheer amount of color photos on these glossy pages--sometimes filling up a page and half's worth of space--were amazing enough. But that this book is presented in an easy-to-understand, engaging style is--perhaps--even *more* amazing!
My husband and I "oohed" and "ahhhed" in the bookstore as we investigated various animals and discovered amazing facts. For example, did you know that giraffes move from a walk directly to a gallop because their long legs and short body make trotting impossible without tripping? That they can reach speeds exceeding 31 mph? That they must splay their legs--and even bend at the knee--when they drink water? Why? Well, their heart pumps blood at an enormous pressure in order to reach their brain when upright. When their head lowers to drink, a series of one-way valves regulate the blood's force and flow to prevent damage to the brain.
Fascinating, no?
We keep this book in the living room so we can pick it up any time just to look at the pictures or learn something my new. Even my son picks it up to browse through, often asking us questions. For example, lemurs feature prominently in the movie Madagascar--as well as the PBS show Zoobamoofoo. My son then asked me to look up lemurs--and was delighted to see all the different kinds!
At 624 pages, Animal - The Definitive Visual Guide to the World's Wildlife is a great book for those who are curious about animals. It's also a great reference for homeschoolers, especially in terms of biology and earth science. Lastly, if your spiritual path includes shamanism and power animals, this book is a GREAT resource for learning the behaviors and attributes of various creatures--which will help you learn more about the spiritual ramifications of your spirit animal/s.
(P.S. Amazon's price is about $9 cheaper than what we paid at the bookstore. What a great deal for such a hefty, informative book!)
