Natural History Kids
This five-book series is the perfect way to introduce early readers to the science, history, and forms of weather. Clear text and stunning photos are paired within a reader-friendly design to explain the ways that winds, temperatures, and precipitation affect our lives. Each title concludes with an activity for more meteorological exploration.
From the long-necked Apatosaurus to the fleet-footed Velociraptor, the age of dinosaurs was filled with spectacularly diverse life forms. This new series invites readers on fascinating paleontological expeditions, opening each book with the moment of the prehistoric creature's discovery and concluding with what scientists know about it today. Illustrations and historical photographs give dinosaur enthusiasts a visually complete picture of each animal's appearance and surroundings.
This strikingly beautiful retrospective of significant and remarkable discoveries in the past three centuries of natural science exploration is illustrated throughout with artwork hand picked from the archives of the Natural History Museum of London. 320 full-color illustrations.
The well-dressed ape, aka""Homo sapiens, is a strange mammal. It mates remarkably often, and with unprecedented affection. With similar enthusiasm, it will eat to the point of undermining its own health-behavior unthinkable in wild animals. The human marks its territory with doors, fences, and plastic flamingos, yet if it's too isolated it becomes depressed. It thinks of itself as complex, intelligent, and in every way superior to other animals-but is it, really?
With wit, humility, and penetrating insight, science journalist Hannah Holmes casts the inquisitive eye of a trained researcher and reporter on . . . herself. And not just herself, but on our whole species-what Shakespeare called "the paragon of animals." In this surprising, humorous, and edifying book, Holmes explores how the human animal-the eponymous well-dressed ape-fits into the natural world, even as we humans change that world in both constructive and destructive ways.
Comparing and contrasting the biology and behavior of humans with that of other creatures, Holmes demonstrates our position as an animal among other animals, a product of-and subject to-the same evolutionary processes. And not only are we animals-we are, in some important ways (such as our senses of smell and of vision), pitiably inferior ones. That such an animal came to exist at all is unlikely. That we have survived and prospered is extraordinary.
At the same time, Holmes reveals the ways in which Homo sapiens stands apart from other mammals and, indeed, all other animals. Despite the vast common ground we share with our fellow creatures, there are significant areas in which we are unique. No other animal, as far as we know, shares the human capacity for self-reflective thought or our talent for changing ourselves or our environment in response to natural challenges and opportunities. One result of these extraordinary characteristics is the spread of our species across the entire planet; another, unfortunately, is global warming.
Deftly mixing personal stories and observations with the latest scientific theories and research results, Hannah Holmes has fashioned an engaging and informative field guide to that oddest and yet most fascinating of primates: ourselves.
With wit, humility, and penetrating insight, science journalist Hannah Holmes casts the inquisitive eye of a trained researcher and reporter on . . . herself. And not just herself, but on our whole species-what Shakespeare called "the paragon of animals." In this surprising, humorous, and edifying book, Holmes explores how the human animal-the eponymous well-dressed ape-fits into the natural world, even as we humans change that world in both constructive and destructive ways.
Comparing and contrasting the biology and behavior of humans with that of other creatures, Holmes demonstrates our position as an animal among other animals, a product of-and subject to-the same evolutionary processes. And not only are we animals-we are, in some important ways (such as our senses of smell and of vision), pitiably inferior ones. That such an animal came to exist at all is unlikely. That we have survived and prospered is extraordinary.
At the same time, Holmes reveals the ways in which Homo sapiens stands apart from other mammals and, indeed, all other animals. Despite the vast common ground we share with our fellow creatures, there are significant areas in which we are unique. No other animal, as far as we know, shares the human capacity for self-reflective thought or our talent for changing ourselves or our environment in response to natural challenges and opportunities. One result of these extraordinary characteristics is the spread of our species across the entire planet; another, unfortunately, is global warming.
Deftly mixing personal stories and observations with the latest scientific theories and research results, Hannah Holmes has fashioned an engaging and informative field guide to that oddest and yet most fascinating of primates: ourselves.
In Wild Things, Wild Places actress, author, and conservationist Jane Alexander offers a moving first-hand assessment of what is being done to help the planet's most at risk animals. In short reflections on her travels to some of the most remote and forbidding areas, she describes the ways in which human incursions into the natural world are destroying wildlife around the globe. With a clear eye and a keen grasp of the issues, Alexander highlights the remarkable work being done in the fields of science and conservation, and introduces readers to the field biologists, zoologists, environmentalists, and conservationists--the "prophets in the wilderness"--who have committed themselves to this essential effort. Inspiring and enlightening, Wild Things, Wild Places is a deeply personal look at the changing face of wildlife on planet Earth.
A basic exploration of the appearance, behavior, and habitat of zebras, the striped African horses. Also included is a story from folklore explaining how zebras came to have striped fur. From humpbacked camels to drumming woodpeckers, and from fast-flying hummingbirds to slow-moving tortoises, the world of animals is wonderfully diverse. This popular and newly expanded series continues traveling the planet to study these and other fascinating animals. Beautiful photos are paired with accessible text to examine the featured creature's appearance, habitat, behaviors, and life cycle. Each book also presents a folk story that people have used to help explain the animal's appearance or behavior.