5000 Awesome Facts (About Animals!)

Published by National Geographic Kids, this book is awesome, so the title is accurate!

Why I love it...

• Facts are important because they help us learn and pay attention to animals in need.

• All different types of animals are in this book - some endangered, some familiar, some you may want to learn more about...

• It's organized in a really cool way. Each page is a theme, such as "50 Facts to get Straight About Animal Look-alikes" or "25 Facts about Parasites" or "50 High-flying facts about bats", "15 perfect facts about pets in history"

• There are, as to be expected, amazing photographs (National Geographic!!!)

Here are a few facts to get you excited (or egg-cited, if you like birds and reptiles).

• "To see if cats respond to music, scientists tested which beats and tempos made felines in their study purr, walk towards the speaker and rub against it." (page 114)

• "Bats are the ONLY mammal species on earth that can fly. AND More than 300 species of fruit, including mangoes and bananas depend on bats to pollinate them." (page 179)

• "The dumbo octopus's earlike fins help it move and steer through water currents." (page 181) - and they are super cute!

• "Female bears give birth to cubs during hibernation" (page 199)

• "When hibernating, the Townsend's Big-eared bat curls its long ears to look like a ram's horn" (page 200)

• "During the summer as many as 20, 000 elk can call Yellowstone national park, home." (page 200)

• "Baby Mountain goats are called kids, males are called billies and females are called nannies." (page 200)

• "Red Foxes wrap their fluffy tails around themselves to stay warm in winter." (page 201)

Part of why I love this book, really is the cover - tapirs, especially baby tapirs are one of my favorite animals....

Where should you get a copy? Start at your library - our libraries need and deserve support - they are SO important and offer so many resources. That's where we first found this book. If you want to buy it, consider your local independent bookstore. We are big fans of Astoria Bookshop in Queens, where we buy lots of our books.

Here's the summary, from the back of the book...

"Did you konw that a grizzly bear's bite is strong enough to crush a bowling ball? Or that hummingbirds use spider silk to build their nests? And did you know that wombat poop is cube-shaped?

Bursting with fascinating fun-tastic facts, this treasure trove of all things animals leaves no habitat unexplored or unusual animal ability unmentioned! Ever wonder how smart a chicken is? Why a tiny island is home to thousands of venomous snakes? What sound a rhino makes when it is happy? Find these answers and 4.997 more in this captivating and colorful collection."