text: Canadianladybug Reviews!: Animals Alive
  Animals Alive – The Fight for Survival in the Wild
  Here's another fabulous book from DK that will introduce your kids to the world of endangered species around the world. It is well known that pollution, humans and other reasons can cause some damages on animals, plants, birds and sea creatures.
  Apart from some evolution information here and there in the book, the subject is quite interesting. The book starts with a description on how animals survive, the importance of the ecosystems and the biodiversity the treats and an explanation on the codes you would find throughout the book (NT- near threatened, VU- vulnerable, EN – endangered, CR – critically endangered, EW – extinct in the wild, EX - extinct). I was particularly interested in the consequences a small change can have on various species. An wonderful example from the Yellowstone National Park is included in the first part of the book. It reminded me of an episode of the Magic School Bus explaining the lack of cacao pods in the rainforest. Needless to say it was an eye opener when we realized that a small change can have dire consequences when we least expect it.
  Then the book goes through the various species of animals and presents them according to their level of endangerment Mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and invertebrates are presented. We learned interesting facts about different animals but the one that I liked the most was the Leatherback turtle. I had the privilege to see a painted turtle laying her eggs at our camp sites back in June 2009 and it was just wonderful to witness this. So to learn more about another turtle specie was fun. During my readings I also learned something very interesting. Did you know that high temperatures inside a leatherback turtle nest will produce female while low temperatures will produce males? I bet you didn't know that.
  While going through this book it reminded me that a few years ago,the bald eagles was on the endangered list. Decisions were made to protect this magnificent bird. Last year, while taking a fishing trip on a lake in Ontario, I saw some huge nests and bald eagles. I had no clue that the bald eagle was in Ontario. I learned later that it was the first time in years that the bird has nested in the area. Pretty impressive what can happen when we take the necessary decisions to protect a specie of animal don't you think? Today, the bald eagles are apparently healthy and the population is growing.
  Animals Alive is a good book to have in hand to illustrate the damages that can be done on species around the world.