Animal Books

Archive for the ‘Animal Book Review’ Category

Opportunities in Zoo Careers by Blythe Camenson

While i was trying to figure out if i wanted to work in zoos while i was in high school, i remember going to my local library and picking up this book on helping people find out what they need to do in order to start a career in zoos or aquariums.  Published in 1998, it looks much older than it is, but it’s still the best beginning resource to look through when considering a job at a zoo.

The book is broken up in to 9 chapters:

1. The World of Zoos and Aquariums
2. Zookeepers
3. Zoo Curators
4. Animal Behaviorists
5. Zoo Veterinary Staff
6. Wildlife Rehabilitation
7. Aquarium Careers
8. Education and Public Relations
9. Volunteering in Zoos and Aquariums

Appendix A: Professional Associations
Appendix B: Wildlife Rehabilitation Publications
Appendix C: Contacts for State and Federal Rehabilitation Permits
Appendix D: Addresses of Featured Institutions

The most important thing i can suggest if you really want to become a zoo keeper is you should volunteer at the zoo you want to work at.  When you volunteer you should let the person interviewing know that you have interest in working for the zoo and as months go on you should mention this to some of the more experienced zoo keepers.  The reason i suggest this is that the zoo will much more likely hire someone within the zoo then a random person with a little more experience.

The reason for this is as a volunteer, if you ask to work with the animals or prepare the food for the animals, you have learned a large percentage of the skills needed to take care of the animals.  Many zoos will let you volunteer only a couple times a month, or however much you would want to volunteer.

Why Should You Work At A Zoo?

So you think you want to become a zookeeper?   I can help!  As a former zoo keeper, if you love animals this is a job for you.  There is no better experience working at a zoo and being able to climb a gate and walk into an enclosure with an animal you probably would never see in the wild.

There are some negatives to being a Zoo keeper, it’s not all fun, though.  The job can be very tough in the sense you have to do a lot of manual labor.  Most days i would have to run around with a wheel barrel and scoop animal shit into the container and haul it to the back of the zoo.  This was done for about 1 to 2 hours a day which can become tedious.  There is not that much time to sit inside the enclosure and play with the animals, infact there are barely any that you can do that (except for barn yard animals).

If you do not mind working hard to work with animals, this job is probably for you.  I remember watching live animal births which is extremely rare to see, but as a zoo keeper this is something you may get the opportunity to see for yourself.

For further reading, please check out all of the animal books that i have reviewed.  Also please feel free to check out some of my animal pictures that i have taken!

The Ape at the Brink of the Human Mind

Ah, the great great ape Kanzi.  If you are a fan of smart animals and you do not know who Kanzi the Bonobo is, you probably should read this book.  I am very excited and pleased to present this book on Kanzi, the ape that learned to understand human’s language.

If you ever wondered if animals had the ability to think, this book will prove that they do without question.  If you ever if humans could ever talk to the animals, Kanzi proves that it is possible.

Although Kanzi does not have the ability to speak like humans, Kanzi can certainly communicate in another form of language by using the Lexigram system, which is using symbols that represents a word.

This method of communication may seem strange or unimpressive, but once you see Kanzi in action you will understand how amazing it is.  For example, if the person working with kanzi had a banana in their pocket, Kanzi would probably point to the banana symbol to let them know what he wanted.

Another amazing ability that Kanzi possessed was the ability to understand human’s spoken language.  This is the really amazing thing about kanzi, for he could sit and listen to a human speak and know exactly what that person is saying.  If you look at the video below, you can see that Kanzi fully understands the woman talking.  The reason the woman has a mask over her head is to show you how kanzi does not need to the aid of reading lips, he is just hearing what needs to be done.

If you need an introduction to Kanzi, please view the youtube video to the left.

Ok, good.  Now you know Kanzi!  Back to the book review.

This book is by far the best book written on a great ape learning to communicate with humans.  The author, Sue Savage-Rumbaugh (along with Roger Lewin) is the perfect person to write on this topic because she spent years teaching Kanzi how to use the Lexigram system so that they could communicate with each other.

If you are fascinated with this Bonobo Chimpanzee, you need to check this out.  The middle of the book has a nice selection of black and white photos of Kanzi throughout the years that will make you giggle with delight as you seen him wanting to go for a ride in the van, without anyone giving him the key to unlock the door you can see a photo of Kanzi using a screwdriver he had found on the ground to try to stick it in the keyhole to unlock the door.  There are photos of Kanzi at a very young age, Kanzi playing with the Lexigram charts and many more!

Who should read this book?

If you are interested in learning more about Kanzi, check it out.  If you want to find out how a chimpanzee was taught to communicate with humans, this book is for you!

For further reading, please check out all of the animal books that i have reviewed.  Also please feel free to check out some of my animal pictures that i have taken! I have recently reviewed Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape which is a must read for bonobo lovers!

Learning about time from a baby chimpanzee

Chimp Math by Ann Whitehead Nagda and Cindy Bickel is a childrens book that doubles as a story for small children and a great learning tool for all kids.  Chimp Math tells the story of Jiggs, a small Chimpanzee who was born at a zoo in Kansas who was taken care by the zoo keepers because her mother did not seem interested in raising Jiggs (sometimes Great Apes do not want to raise their children in zoos, especially first births).

This is a rather short book at 29 pages but is very VERY informative because it not only tells the story of a young chimp who does very human like things, but also teaches the reader about different math related topics.

The book is setup with the story of the chimp Jiggs on the right hand side.  On the left hand side of every page is a different kind of math related topic.  For example, the first page shows a timeline with important Chimpanzee dates in the Twentieth Century.  1932 saw Cheetah the chimp star in the movie Tarzan the Ape Man, 1941 saw Curious George being published and so on.

The next page teaches us about a time lin of a day.  This is used to show how often Jiggs was fed in the early stages of his life, being fed every 2 hours.  On the right side of the page is a big photo of Jiggs only a few days old wearing a diaper, looking as cute as can be with a paragraph under the photo to tell the story.

So as you can see, you can use this book to read a fun story about a young chimpanzee raised by  humans and as the child gets older you can introduce them to different math and time related charts and graphs.

Who should buy this book

If you have kids that are young and you want them to be interested in animals, this is a great book.  Also if you would like your kids to get into helping animals in some form, like to be a future zoo keeper, this book will surely benefit the child because it gives them an early look at important scientific graphs and topics to look out for.  Along with amazingly cute photos of Jiggs, your child will surely want to love all animals and chimpanzees after reading this book!

For further reading, please check out all of the animal books that i have reviewed.  Also please feel free to check out some of my animal pictures that i have taken!

What Primate Behavior Can Tell Us About Human Social Evolution

Tree of Origin by Frans de Waal is a  wonderful book that looks to the chimpanzees and other primates to learn about how our early human ancestors probably would have behaved and lived.

If you have ever spent a few minutes watching Chimpanzees, Bonobos, Orangutans or Gorillas at a zoo you may have noticed how they have moments of very “human-like” behavior.  I find this very fascinating and it always makes me wonder if we are in fact related to the Bonobos and Chimpanzees, something i’m quite sure of now.

Tree of Origin, which was published in 2001, is an amazing book with 9 of the world’s top primate experts who each add their own knowledge in explaining how the Great Apes behavior is a hint at how the early humans evolved into what we are today.

Jane Goodall gave a quote on the back of the book, which i think gives you a good idea at how important this book is to the scientific community:

The last few decades have seen enormous progress in the study of primate behavior.  Nine of the world’s leading experts team up tot ell us what it all means, throwing new light on human evolution.

The Similarities Between Humans and Primates

Frans de Waal brings up some interesting topics that us humans have in common with the great apes.  For instance, Tree of origin covers  how different groups of Chimpanzees use different tools suited to their environment.  They also look at how the chimpanzees will set off on hunting parties and patrol their neighborhood for unwanted trespassers.  The book also talks about social customs that set each ape community apart, which sounds very human like too.

Who Should Buy this Book

If you are interested in how humans evolved than this book is deffinitly for you.  If you are fascinated with monkeys and Great Apes at zoos, you should read this book.  If you want to figure out more about the Bonobo Chimpanzees and how human like they are, please pick up this book.

Since this book was published in 2001 it may be a bit difficult to find.  My best suggestion is to try your local library first, and if they do not have it amazon or ebay will surely have it.

For further reading, please check out all of the animal books that i have reviewed.  Also please feel free to check out some of my animal pictures that i have taken!

The Spirit Language and Signs of Nature

Creating your animal totem, benefits of it and over 150 animal dictionary

1 of 4 great animal spirit/dictionary books

The first part of Animal-Wise is to teach you about animal totems and how to create your own animal totem by selecting the correct animals for yourself.

By using the 7 Chakras of the human bodyas  a starting point, Ted Andrews adds an 8th element, your feet as the base totem.  This gives you the following 8 elements of the body that need an animal that represents each individual element:

1. Feet (base)
2. Root or Base (gonads and ovaries)
3. Spleen (adrenals, spleen & liver)
4. Solar Plexus (adrenals)
5. Heart (thymus)
6. Throat (thyroid)
7. Brow (pituitary)
8. Crown (top of head)

Animal Wise guides your through the process of selecting the right animal for each part of the body, making it fun and simple.  It can take anywhere from a few days to a month or more to find the right animal for your animal totems, but it is well worth the time.

Who should buy Animal-Wise?

If you have read my site for the last few weeks you may have noticed this is the 4th animal spirit book and you may be wondering which you should pick up.

Ted Andrews has created a book for anyone who really wants to find out how to REALLY build a correct animal totem for yourself, that is the main puprose of this book.

Also, Animal-Wise does an amazing job of describing the animals, many times each animal will get 2 full pages of text that describes the animals personalities better than any other animal spirit book.

Another great feature of this book is the fact that the animals are quite rare and you will probably not find these animals in the other animal spirit books.

Jane Goodall’s Book on Working with the Chimpanzees and her Life.

Jane Goodall Book for Kids or anyone looking for a quick introduction to the life and work of one of the most famous person to ever study chimpanzees or any kind of animal!

Jane Goodall talks about her adventures in Gombe National Park in Africa where she spent many years studying the wild animals she grew to love called the Chimpanzees.  From a young age Jane Goodall knew that working around animals was something she had to do and thankfully her parents fully supported her in her life choice.

This book is written like an adventure novel with thrilling stories about living in the wild with her husband and photographer and their son nicknamed Grub.  Jane Goodall’s study of the Chimpanzees has redefined the way humans look at other animals.  In fact, because of Jane Goodall, humans had to re-think what it is to be labeled as an animal.  It used to be known that only humans had the abilities to make tools and use them, but one day Goodall witnessed a chimpanzee using a man-made tool, something chimpanzees are amazing at.  After this discovery there have been many other animals seen in the wild using tools, including the obvious Gorillas and Orangutans, but also including the not so obvious dolphins and birds (view the vultures using a tool).

Why parents should buy this book

I really believe that when you teach your children about animals at an early age they will be more likely to want to help save the animals as they are adults.  Jane Goodall does an amazing job telling people about the importance of saving the chimpanzees and other animals in danger and has devoted her life to it.

With this book, My Life with the Chimpanzees, Jane Goodall brings you on an adventure and totally captures your imagination.  She also explains individual chimpanzees that she has met in her journeys and lets the reader really understand how different Chimpanzees can be, just like humans.

Can Adults Read this Book?

I must say that this is a great book for adults to read.  Although the print is large and it is a rather short book at only 160 pages and the “reading level” at ages 9-12, i can recommend this book to adults because the other option is a 768 page biography called Jane Goodall which is much harder to read than this. Plus, you can find this at most Book stores for the low price of $6.99!

Here is a quote from an amazon reviewer.

The book was purchased for a project learning about Jane Goodall. Unfortunately for me, I didn’t look closely enough before buying the book to realize it was written for young readers. Even though it wasn’t appropriate for my college level project, I read through it anyway and found it to be an excellent book.

Read Dian Fossey’s self-told Story About Studying The Gorillas

The first thing i should mention about Gorillas in the Mist is that the author, Dian Fossey, is the absolute most important woman to ever be involved with the Gorillas.  There are other noteable women working with the Gorilla, mainly Dr. Penny Patterson, who taught Koko and Michael the Gorillas GSL (Gorilla Sign Language), but we must celebrate the life of Dian Fossey.

Dian Fossey was murdered in 1985 while sleeping in the a shack in the woods in Africa, probably murdered by poachers.  Fossey was speaking out against the poaching and killing of Gorillas in the wild and it is obvious that the poachers needed to finish her off to keep their trade alive.

About Gorillas in the Mist

Dian Fossey’s Gorillas in the Mist is self-told story about Dian’s 13 years studying the Gorillas in a war-torn and troubled region of Africa.  Not much was known about the Gorillas at the time she set off in 1963 from Kentucky, USA.  Gorillas are now known as gentle giants, they are by far the largest of the great apes and are probably the kindest in some areas.  Because of their size and incredibly scary displays (when a great ape is threatened or wanting to show off they will pound their chest, show their teeth and run at you) and large teeth, the first non-African people to find them surely must have been scared.  This lead to a number of misunderstood movies portraying the Gorillas as feriousious monsters, like the famous movie King Kong.

What Dian Fossey discovered was that Gorillas live in small groups with one or two males, known as blackbacks and silverbacks, who watched over them and protected them.  She also discovered the Gorillas desire for contact, which mainly came in the form of grooming, which made them very social and gentle.

In the opening chapter i found a very funny tale told by Fossey right after meeting the famed Leakey:

Dr. Leakey gave me permission to walk around some newly excavated sites at Olduvai, one of which contained a recently discovered giraffe fossil. As i ran down a steep slope, my exultation at being free under Africa skies was abruptly shattered, along with my right ankle, when i fell into a dig containing the new find. As the ankle cracked, the sudden pain induced me to vomit unceremoniously all over the treasured fossil. As if this wasn’t humiliating enough, I had to be ignominiously hauled out of the gorge, piggyback style, by disgusted members of the Leakeys’ staff.

Becoming a member of Leakey’s Angels

Dian Fossey explains, in the beginning of the book, how she had to leave America and find out more about the wild Gorillas of Africa.  In September of 1963 she finally made it there and me Mary Leakey and Louis Leakey.  This meeting of Louis Leakey would change Fossey’s life forever, much like it did for Jane Goodall, the great Chimpanzee woman and also Birute Galdikas, the great Orangutan woman.

Breaking her ankle slowed her adventures down for a few weeks, but she continued on her journey using a crutch and ventured off into the wild.

As you can see in the poster to the left, Fossey was a member of Leakey’s Angels.  Fossey was the only one from America, while Jane Goodall was from England and Birute Galdikas is from Germany.  Goodall and Galdikas still are involved in great ape conservation groups, so if you are a fan of either there is a chance you can meet both!

For a little more information on each incrediable women, please visit my flickr page on Leakey’s Angels to view a poster i made dedicated to the group.

The Darkside of the Study of Great Apes

Dian Fossey discovered amazing things about the Gorillas which probably lead to her death in 1985.  The more people found out about the Gorillas, the more humans would be likely to save the species.  In Dian’s time and even right now, the Gorillas habitat is in Rwanda where there is so much war and instability that humans are finding that surviving is almost impossible.

People have become so desperate for food and money, which is understandable in a way, that they resort to poaching and killing Great Apes and Monkeys for the bushmeat trade, and also to sell the babies on the black market.  Usually they will hunt down a mother and it’s baby and shoot the mother.  The babies are so small and so dependant on the mother, much like human babies, that they will not leave the side of the mother, making them easy targets.  Many Gorillas you see in zoos have witnessed their mother being murdered and having humans pull them away from their dead mother.

Infact, there is a really amazing moment in Koko the Gorilla’s movie where Michael, her Gorilla friend, describes the loss of her mother! This video really made it clear to me how intelligent the great apes really are.

The art of Recognizing and Working with Familiars

Highlights of Animal Magick by D.J. Conway

• a VERY long list of deities and the animal familiars associated with them
• Short chants and meditation methods to help connect you with your favorite animals
• Really informative descriptions of the animals, including history, superstitions, attributes and chants

First off, what is a Familiar?  You maybe thinking this as you read the sub-title of the book.  D.J. Conway, author of Animal Magick, describes familiars in the first chapter like this:

“Familiar” actually comes from the Latin word famulus, which means an attendant.  The ancient Greeks spoke of personal daemons, a type of spiritual helper in either human or animal form.  Our present word “demon” was corrupted from this Greek word.  The actual Greek word for familiar, such as will be discussed here, was paredrii.

So basically a familiar is something that sends you mental messages to you.  Many people practice this form of Magick without even knowing it!  When one is obsessed with a particular animal and collects small statues and paintings of them, they could actually be communicating with an animal familiar.

Familiars and power animals are similar but not the same thing.  Familiars was born out of Europe from Shamanism, which lead to Wicca and Paganism.  Power animals, or animal totems, was born out of the Native Americans but also exists in almost every culture around the world.  A person can call on a “power animal” at any time and be “possessed” by that animal.  They would do this, lets say, if you are about to go in front of a huge audience and need confidence in speaking, you could call on your Chimpanzee or Dolphin power animal to boost your confidence.

With that out of the way, let’s get to what this book is about. I tried to explain what a familiar is, but the first chapter does so much of a better job than i can ever do.  Animal Magick is a great introduction to the European version of Animal Spirits.

This book is broken up into 3 parts: 1.) A Familiar What?  2.) Working Together, and 3.) Animal Allies of Fur, Feather, Fin & Scale.  Below you can find a total breakdown of each different parts.

Part I: A Familiar What?

1. Familiars & Humans
2. How to Attract a Familiar
3. Legends & Deities
4. Animal Familiars & Magick, A Meditation for a Familiar.  Shape-shifting Meditation

Part II: Working Together

1. Meditations
   Learning from the Falcon.  Snake Energy.  The Spiders & the Fates. Exploring the Oceans.  Riding the Unicorn. Into the Underworld.  Communing with the Night.  Pegasus.
2. Rituals
   North Direction.  East Direction.  South Direction.  West Direction.  Protection Ritual of the Wolves.  Prosperity Ritual of the Wolves.  Love Ritual of the Wolves.  Spiritual Growth Ritual of the Wolves.  Cat Magick for Calling Spirits.  Dream Work.  Opening the Psychic Senses.  Gaining Wisdom.  A Protective Mirror.  Renewing & Healing Magick.  Invisibility Magick.  New Beginnings.
3. The Beauty of Friendship

Part III: Animal Allies of Fur, Feather, Fin & Scale

1. The Cat Family
   Domesticated Cats.  Cheetah.  Cougar.  Jaguar.  Leopard or Panther.  Lion.  Lynx.  Tiger.
2. The Wolf Family
   Domesticated Dogs.  Coyote.  Fox.  Jackal.  Wolf
3. Land Creatures
   Antelope.  Ape or Monkey.  Ass or Donkey.  Badger.  Bear.  Beaver.  Bison or Buffalo.  Boar, Sow or Pig, Bull, Cow or Cattle.  Deer or Stag.  Elephant.  Elk.  Ferret.  Goats.  Hedgehog.  Hippopotamus.  Horse.  Mongoose.  Moose.  Mouse.  Opossum.  Otter.  Oxen.  Porcupine.  Rabbit or Hare.  Raccoon. Ram or Sheep.  Rat.  Skunk.  Squirrel.  Weasel.  Wolverine.
4. Birds & Winged Creatures
   Bat.  Blackbird.  Blue Jay.  Cock. Crane.  Crow.  Dove or Pigeon.  Eagle.  Falcon.  Goose.  Guinea Fowl.  Hawk.  Heron.  Hummingbird.  Ibis.  Lovebird.  Magpie.  Nightingale.  Ostrich.  Owl.  Parrot.  Peacock.  Quail.  Raven.  Robin.  Sea Gull.  Sparrow.  Swallow.  Swan.  Turkey.  Vulture.  Woodpecker.  Wren.
5. Amphibians & Reptiles
   Adder.  Chameleon.  Cobra.  Crocodile.  Frog.  Lizard.  Scorpion.  Snakes.  Toad.  Turtle or Tortoise.
6. Aquatic Creatures
   Carp.  Dolphin or Porpoise.  Eel.  Fish. Octopus.  Salmon.  Seal.  Whale.
7. Spiders & Insects
   Ant.  Bees. Beetle or Scarab Beetle.  Butterfly.  Dragonfly.  Spiders.
8. Mythical Creatures
   Basilisk.  Centaur.  Dragon.  Griffin.  Pegasus.  Phoenix.  Satyr.  Sphinx.  Unicorn. Winged Bull.  Wyvern.

Part IV:

1. Appendix:  Deities & Their Familiars
2. Bibliography
3. Index

The First Part introduces you to familiars, the four different types of familiars, the two ways to attract familiars and, my favorite part of the book, Legends & Deities, which explains how almost every single culture has been obsessed with animals, including America.

The Second Part talks about meditation and rituals.  The meditation section will inform you of the powers of meditation (which i fully believe everyone should meditate) and how to connect with animals during meditation.   This is actually a very interesting section if you try to practice a few of the listed meditation exercises.  What i like about meditation is the practice of visualizing things (if you are following my blog, you will notice i like to think and visualize!).  Once you start meditating, the exercises describes a scene in which you are introduced to a certain animal in a certain way.  I recommend reading the exercises to a tape recorder, your computer, ipod or whatever in a slow and relaxing voice and then replay it back as you meditate.  If you do do this, leave a few minutes of silence in the beginning to let yourself become relaxed.  The way that i start of meditation is visualize myself walking up to a beach and sitting down by the water.  As i watch the waves come crashing in and over my body, i let my breaths represent each crash of water coming over my body.  After a few minutes you can start thinking about other things.

The Ritual part of the book is a little confusing, but basically it involves chanting about a certain animal.  Each ritual will tell you what supplies you need, like incense, staff, herbs, rattles, drums, offering bowl and so on.  This may seem strange to some people, but it can be a VERY powerful experience if you ever do decide to try them.

the Animal Allies section is very, very informative.  This is the section dedicated to describing the above listed animals.  What i really like about this section is how D.J. Conway describes the animals, giving more of a history lesson explaining how different cultures have treated and dealt with the animal.  Also, i really like the 3 added sections per animal:  Superstitions, Magickal Attributes and a Chant.

Summary

I think D.J Conway’s Animal Magick is not just for someone trying to get into Shamanism or Wiccan magic, but will be enjoyable for the average animal lover.  This is a great resource for looking about the meanings of animals, and especially interesting for history buffs and deity lovers, because at the end their is an impressive list of deities and which animals are associated with them, 12 pages to be exact!  For example, i am obsessed with the Mayans, so naturally i love Quetzalcoatl, one of the most important Gods in their culture.  Here is how Mr. Q is listed:  Quetzalcoatl (Aztec; god): hummingbird, dog, snake.  Another Example:  Horus ( Egypt; god): falcon, hawk, cats, goose, antelope, dragon, wolf.  Super cool!

David Attenborough’s classic book goes great with his 1980’s tv series

The Living Planet Book Highlights:

• Amazing full page photos
• Book that goes along with a TV series by David Attenborough
• Great for nature lovers, telling about 12 different habitats animals can live in and how they adapted to their environment

If you grew up in the 1980’s you may have watched David Attenborough’s series that aired on PBS called The Living Planet.  If not, i hope you have at least one of Attenborough’s work because he is by arguably the best naturalist in front of the camera.

Most notably David has worked on Planet Earth series and also Blue Planet, along with the series called The Living Planet, which is why i am typing currently!

Back in the 80’s David Attenborough hosted a 12 part series called The Living Planet which you could also purchase this book to read a bit more into each episode.

How the Book is Setup

The book matches the episodes perfectly, consisting of 12 chapters that go along with the 12 Fifty minute episodes.  When reading The Living Planet book, i hear David Attenborough in my head.  The text is written in a way to match Attenborough’s style which makes the book exciting and compelling.

The book was written at the same time as the programmes were being filmed.  The one is not, therefore, the direct descendant of the other.  Rather the two are cousins, both descended from the same body of research and years of travel.  They therefore have the sort of differences and likenesses that ou might expect from such a relationship.  I hope the one may enhance the other.

-Taken from the Preface, The Living Planet book

So as you can see, this is not a book that was just transcribed from the video series, it was some-what on it’s own. What i really like most about this book is how i can visualize David speaking as i read this book.  At the end of each chapter, i can see David walking in the habitat he is talking about with the camera slowly zooming in on him as he sets up the next chapter, much like he did in the TV series.

What helps in the visualizing department is the amount of full page color photos that still hold up today.  With each chapter there is an average of about 15 pages of text with about 15 full page color photos that go along with what the book is talking about!  When i read books i really enjoy seeing what the author is talking about, and this book does a nice job doing that.

Bottom-line, who should get this book

So this is an oldy-but-goody, my copy was published in 1984 and when i saw it at a used book store i HAD to have this bad boy.  I only paid 8 dollars for it and i think it’s worth that price if you are an animal book lover, and DEFFINITLY worth it if you are an Attenborough fan, which i sure am! You can only get this used, it is out of print, that means you have to hit your used book stores hard if your lucky enough to have one close, or just check eBay or amazon.com.

The Definitive Visual Guide to the World’s Wildlife

Smithsonian Institution’s ANIMAL book is probably the best animal reference book out there.  I was looking for a good book in this category and this is leaps and bounds better than the National Geographic book with a similar title.

This is by far the best and most used animal book i use.  I often visit zoos and frequent animal photos on Flickr and try to figure out animal names by seeing them and if i do not know what the animal the first thing i do is grab this book.

The main use of this book is to find out a little information about an animal that you are looking for more information about.  Smithsonian’s Animal book has over 2,000 animals in 6 main categories: Mammals, Birds, Reptiles, Amphibians, Fish & Invertebrates.

This book was not compiled by one author, but by over 70 professional Zoologists, making sure that all the information in the Animal Book is up-to-date and accurate.  Also, the two editors-in-chief are two of the top Biologists in their field.

How the Book is Laid Out

With the book divided into 6 areas that i listed above, each animal is given a small section of the book. For example, if you are looking for more information on on a certain kind of bat that you saw at a zoo, you would go to the content page (look at the image to the left for the contents) and try to find the bat area.  From there, you know to go to page 108 which has about 20+ bats listed.

From here, try to remember how the bat looked and just browse the pages to find the most similar bat.

You can really see how useful this book would be if you are a die hard animal fan like myself.  Obviously not all animals are listed, but most of the major animals are.  Some sub-species have 100’s of different animals so they can not list all of them so they will try to list the ones most different.

For example, the Gibbons page, under Primates and Apes, lists a total of 5 Gibbons: White-Handed Gibbon, Crested Gibbon, Siamang, White-checked Gibbon & Silvery Gibbon.  There are over 13 Gibbons known, so as you can see they do not list all of them, which is totally understandable.

Example Page and What is Inside

As you can see with the image on the right, there is a lot of information to be read using this book. The more popular animals will have half a page dedicated, while the lesser known animals will get 1/8th of a page.  Every animal listed will have atleast the following content, with an image for over 98% of the animals!

Listed below shows you what you can find out about each individual animal:

1. Scientific Name: Pan Troglodytes
2. Common Name: Chimpanzee
3. Length: 25- 35 in (63-90 cm)
4. Tail: None
5. Weight: 66 – 130lb
6. Social Unit: Pair
7. Location: West to Central Africa
8. Status: Critically endangered
9. Where they live: Trees
10. General Info: Chimpanzees live in communities of 15-120.  Subgroup composition varies almost hourly for activities such as grooming, feeding, traveling, and defending the territory.  This last task is usually carried out by adult male parties, who may attack and kill stray chimps from other communities.  Most daylight hours are spent eating – mainly fruits and leaves, but also flowers and seeds.  Raiding parties sometimes cooperate to kill and eat animal prey such as monkeys, birds, and small antelopes.  Social bonds may last years, but there are no long-term male-female bonds for reproduction.  The single young (rarely twins), born after a gestation period of 8 months, is fed, carried, and groomed by its mother for 3-4 years.  It is also learns her feeding techniques.  Chimpanzees not only use tools but also make them – for example, stripping side branches from a twig, which it uses to scoop out termites from their nest.  The 2 chimpanzee species are our closest living relatives, and their intelligence, range of emotions, and communication and learning skills have made them valuable to animal trainers, collectors, and researchers.  They are also killed for the bushmeat trade.
11. Photo: Sitting Chimpanzee, vocalizing chimp, nesting chimps, map of where they are found in Africa.

Other Content found in the Smithsonian Animal Book

Besides the obvious use of the book to learn more about individual animals, there is plenty of other very informative information! Key areas of the book which are described below:  Animal Groups, Behavior, Animals in Danger, Conservation, Habitats, Evolution and more!

Animal Groups. Four pages that summarize in beautiful color the classification scheme used in the book.  I recommend getting familiar with this section when trying to understand what makes animals different and similar. This will let you see which animals are grouped together and how the book is laid out.  For example, you will see  Primates as a category, Monkeys & Apes as a sub-category, and Monkeys listing 3 families and 242 species, while Apes have 2 families and 21 species.

Animal Behavior. An introduction to what makes animals different by the way that each individual animal does certain things.  Behavior can be seen as a simple actions, such as how it eats or cleans itself, to highly complex actions such as hunting in a group, courting a mate or building a nest.

Animals in Danger. This section of Smithsonian Animal explains how animals have become endangered, what humans have done to destroy the habitats and animals themselves, and which animals are on the brink of extinction.

Animal Conservation. A conversation on what you and humans can do to help preserve animals and their habitats. Some of the topics in this section include: Captive breeding, animal appeal, controlling incomers, legal protection and commercial exploitation.

Habitats. One of the largest sections of the book, this is a super informative chapter that teaches you the different places on the earth and what makes them special.  The different habitats covered are: Grassland, Desert, Tropical Forest, Temperate Forest, Coniferous Forest, Mountains, Polar Regions, Freshwater, Oceans, Coasts and Coral Reefs.  Each individual habitat gets a few pages of explanations of what kind of plants and animals live in that region, with an image of that type of area and where the animal would live in that area.

Evolution. One of the most interesting things about animals is how suibtle the differences can be between many different animals in the same group.  An example would be how many different kind of dogs there are.  With dogs this is an example of artificial selection, compared to natural selection, which is a special form of evolution.  All dogs are related to the Grey Wolf, but humans breed dogs for certain features which is called artificial selection.  This section will inform you on evolution, extinction, species and speciation and much much more!

Summary of this Amazing book

As you can see, there are many great things about this book.  I highly recommend this book to all of you animal lovers because of the amazing ammount of information found within the 600+ pages.