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The letter “D” has never had such a fine showing as it has had this month in our newest Zootles issue, Dolphins
. What do dolphins do? Doubtless, they dive deep. They dart away from danger. And in a way, they even dog-paddle!
Dolphins breathe through a blowhole, and breathing air with lungs is one of the biggest indicators that dolphins are mammals rather than fish. Fish swish their tails from side to side; dolphins swish theirs up and down. Their skin is smooth and rubbery, and protects them in cold water.
Dolphins can’t smile, but their mouths are shaped in such a way that they look happy. Maybe they are! They get to ride the waves like surfers, and sometimes leap in the wakes of large ships. They eat lots of their favorite foods–fish, squid, or octopus–by swallowing it whole.
Have you ever wondered if dolphins sleep? They do, but not the way we do. Dolphins float on one side and sleep with one eye open. After a while, they roll over to the other side and open the other eye. Now that’s the ultimate water bed!
Dolphins like to be with other dolphins, and we have the feeling that young Zootles readers are going to like being with dolphins, too. Let us know which of the fun facts in this issue were most popular at your house!
Your next Zoobooks issue, Apes, will tell you straight off that our DNA differs from that of a chimpanzee by only about 2%. Our similarities are easy enough to see: apes can stand upright, they have fingernails and fingerprints, large brains, expressive faces, and obvious intelligence. More than that, they have five fingers and toes, forward-looking eyes, 32 teeth, and ears that have the same kinds of wrinkles and lobes.
But apes, of course, are still vastly different from people. Gorillas, the largest apes, have shorter height averages than humans, and weigh a lot more. All apes have longer arms than they do legs. They are also much stronger–any ape can be counted on to be more powerful than a human of similar size. They are considerably hairier than people, too.
The similarities amuse and puzzle us, and encourage us to protect these animals that are at such risk from poaching, logging, and bushmeat hunting. Africans who live near mountain gorillas are proud of them, and encourage tourists to come see them. Local children love the gentle gorillas in their midst, and grow up knowing firsthand that gorillas–and all apes–are special. 
To begin with, all living things fill our world with beauty, wonder, and excitement. More importantly, we couldn’t live without them! All animals and plants are linked together. Each species plays a role in keeping the world of nature alive and in balance. We are a part of that natural world. Every species depends on other species. The plants and animals of the world sustain us.
When a species disappears, the balance shifts. Imagine that the world of nature is like a pyramid made of blocks. Each block has a role to play in holding up the pyramid. If you remove one block, it probably won’t make much difference. Even if you remove 25 blocks, it may not cause much damage. But if you remove hundreds and thousands of blocks, the pyramid will almost certainly fall down. When too many plants and animals disappear, it harms the world we live in, and people suffer. This has already happened in many parts of the world.
We can save endangered animals, however, if we really want to. Some have already been saved by making sure that they were no longer hunted or trapped. Many are given free range in protected preserves. And many are helped to reproduce and replenish their species in zoos.
Zootles Penguins is a wet and wild look at one of our favorite flightless birds. Ever wondered how these tuxedo-clad avians survive is temperatures that would stop us cold?
A penguin is waterproof, first of all. Water can’t soak into the 
skin because the skin is covered with a lot of tightly packed feathers coated in oil. A thick layer of blubber under the skin works like a parka for keeping a penguin warm, too. In sub-freezing temperatures, penguins huddle together to keep warm, rotating so that every bird gets a chance to be in the middle of the group.
Penguins vary a lot in size. The smallest is the little blue penguin, at just over a foot tall and 2-1/2 pounds. Emperor penguins are almost four feet tall and weigh 80 pounds–larger than many children! Their habitat varies, too–from the icy cold of Antarctica to the sunny coast of South Africa.
So how many of these fun facts did you already know, and how many were news to you? Are there any other penguin tidbits out there that you think are worth sharing? Feel free to add them below!
Endangered animals can be a sobering subject. Nobody wants to think of beautiful tigers or gorillas or exotic birds ever disappearing. But a close look at the plight of endangered animals can actually be a very positive–and even empowering–thing.
People may have caused the difficulty for many animal populations, but people are the source of recovery and healing, too. In this month’s Zoobooks issue, Endangered Animals, kids will get to share in many of the success stories involving animals in trouble.
The Arabian Oryx, a type of antelope, was extinct in the wild by the 1970′s. Today, because of captive breeding, about 1,000 have been reintroduced into the deserts of the Middle East. The Mongolian Wild Horse is following this example, with 50 reintroduced animals in the wild so far. By the early 1940′s, there were only 15 whooping cranes left–and yet today, there are 382 in the wild. One of the most dramatic recoveries has been the white-tailed gnu, which was once down to just a few hundred animals–and now numbers about 1.5 million.
Kids need to know they can make a difference, and Zoobooks Endangered Animals encourages this. May the conservation continue!
A new Zoobooks issue is going to be pouncing on you in just a few days. We’re going to guess that some of the information in this Big Cats issue won’t be new to you: maybe you already know, for example, that a lion’s roar can carry for more than five miles, and that female lions do most of the hunting.
It may surprise you, though, to learn that one of the bigger felines in the cat family–the cougar (also known as a mountain lion)–is not considered a big cat at all, but is classified as a little cat. One of the reasons it is a little cat is that it cannot roar, as other big cats do. Or, we should say, as MOST other big cats do. Cheetahs and snow leopards, both big cats, can’t roar either. How did they get assigned the big cat classification while cougars were left out? The answer has to do with their DNA, but also with more subjective debate among scientists.
To the ancient people of South America, the strength and beauty of the jaguar qualified it as one of the highest gods. A jaguar’s strength is truly astonishing. The largest jaguar on record weighed only 350 pounds, but jaguars have been seen dragging full grown horses for more than a mile.
When your Big Cats issue arrives, you’ll discover lots more little-known facts that we have not included here. We’d enjoy hearing which one is your favorite!
All turtles can pull their heads inside their shells, right? Nope! Some species can’t pull their head, arms, or legs inside at all. But of those that CAN, our favorite might be the turtles that have “hinged” doors–the ones that can not only cozy up inside, but can shut up their shells so nothing can come in after them.
Zootles Turtles demonstrates that turtles come in three different types: sea turtles, freshwater turtles, and tortoises. Tortoises are the ones that live exclusively on land. Sea turtles are the ones that can’t pull their heads inside their shells. Freshwater turtles are the turtles that can survive the winter motionless beneath a frozen pond.
So, are turtles reptiles, or amphibians? They’re reptiles! This means they are cold-blooded. They spend a lot of time moving between warm spots and cool spots to make sure their bodies stay at the right temperature. They have scaly skin and lay eggs on land (amphibians lay their eggs in the water).
We may consider turtles a great example of animals that can teach us how to take life at a slower pace, but remember that lots of sea turtles can swim faster than you can.
Any questions?
So let’s dive right in and see what whale facts are going to take you by surprise–we’ll start with the blue whale. We all know it’s big–100 feet or more. Lots of school children get to measure out a hundred feet on the school yard blacktop to see just how magnificently long that is. But were you aware that a blue whale’s skeleton weighs more than 50,000 pounds? That the whale’s aorta (the major artery to the heart) is big enough for a child to crawl through? Its heart is about as long as a man is tall! No animal ever on earth, not even the largest dinosaur, is or was as big as the blue whale.
Sperm whales are champions for holding their breath–sometimes more than an hour. And while they are doing all that breath-holding, they are diving to great depths–sometimes as deep as two miles. That’s where they find the fabled giant squid, one of their favorite foods. The battles that must go on between these animals in the depths are worthy of Jules Verne!
Imagine now that you are diving in the ocean, and some large aquatic animal is swimming toward you. What is the easiest way to tell whether you are looking at a whale or a fish? Whales and fish swim differently. Fish move their tails from side to side, while whales move their tails (also called flukes) up and down. By the way, if something is swimming toward you, whether whale or fish, we recommend getting out of the way if it has teeth!
There are lots of fun facts in Turtles 
that may be news to the 3-6 year old who subscribes to Zootles–small children may not know, for example, that turtles can’t crawl out of their shells. But there are plenty of turtle tidbits in this issue that make it interesting and fun for Mom or Dad to read, too.
For starters, the largest turtle on record is the leatherback, and we can pretty much guarantee it is bigger than you. In fact, at 8 feet in length and 2,000 pounds, it’s pretty much bigger than a small car. And if you think all turtles are slow, think again. On level ground, the smooth softshell turtle can run faster than you can. And in the water, the green turtle, on a bad day, is three times faster than Michael Phelps. Feeling left behind?
Maybe you’ve heard that turtles can live a long time–some species up to a 100 years, right? Actually, a Galapagos tortoise named Harriet lived to be 175–an age no human is likely to see. All of which points to the fact that–like the hare in that famous fable–we can’t underestimate the awesomeness of the turtle!
Ever feel a little woozy after you pick something up off the floor and stand up again quickly? First the blood rushes to your head as you bend over, and then it suddenly drains away as you straighten. Now imagine you are 16 feet tall, and straightening up quickly is necessary for your safety. Welcome to a giraffe’s world!
We have to wonder why we don’t see giraffes stumbling about, looking like their heads are spinning. Medical scientists studied giraffe blood pressure and circulation to find out why blood doesn’t rush to the brain when a giraffe bends to drink, and why it doesn’t drain away, causing the giraffe to faint, when it lifts its head to a normal position. They’ve discovered that giraffes have valves in the artery and veins of the neck that interrupt blood flow, slowing the rush. This is a very fortunate adaptation, considering a giraffe heart can be two feet long, and pumps 20 gallons of blood a minute. Nobody wants to have to steady themselves to let all that blood settle down when there’s a hungry lion in the neighborhood!
