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Hunting tigers 
used to be sport for royalty and the wealthy people of India. But tiger hunts weren’t sporting, because the tigers had little chance to escape. The hunters rode on elephants, while their servants (called beaters) noisily drove the tigers toward the hunters. Over the years, many thousands of tigers were killed this way.
Great prestige was once the reward for killing a tiger. Young Indian princes usually killed their first tiger by the age of 11 or 12. In 1965, one Maharajah reported that his total take of tigers was only 1,150.
Nowadays, fortunately, there is no legal hunting of tigers taking place. It is tigers doing the hunting amid the ruins of Ranthambore–once the royal hunting park for the maharajahs of Jaipur. Ranthambore is one of several former princely hunting preserves that have become national reserves to protect tigers and other wildlife.
If people come into tiger territory riding elephants now, it is because they have come as tourists to visit tigers in their natural habitat. It is not surprising that people admire tigers–they are strong, beautiful, intelligent, graceful, and independent creatures. Ancient Indian legends and sculptures depict the tiger as a symbol of power. In Asia, the tiger has always been “the king of beasts.” Enjoy reading about them in your newest Zoobooks issue!
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.
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!
Kids’ artwork is inspiring. It doesn’t matter how technically correct it is, even when you have to look at it puzzlingly from every angle (tell me about your drawing, Johnny!). It often has a joy, and a hope, that takes us back to our own childhoods and makes us smile.
We are proud to share with you the artistry of the seven published winners of our recent Zooworks Whales contest. They were selected from literally hundreds of marvelous entries. To see another 50 drawings, use the Secret Jungle password in your Whales issue to access our online winners. We hope your day is brightened by their talent!
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!
If you could have the ability to see behind you and in front of you at the same time, would you? As you learned in the current issue of Zoobooks Wild Horses, horses have a very wide field of vision – and the biggest eyes of any land mammal! It’s no wonder they can see what’s going on at either end of them at the same time.
Did you know that horses aren’t alone in their ability to see in two directions at once? A handful of other animals can do so, too. One of these is the chameleon, which has elevated eyes that can move independently of one another and rotate in all directions. That means one eye can face forward while the other looks back! And, like a horse, chameleons can see in two directions without needing to move their heads.
Hey iPad and iPhone users – have you checked out the new African Plains Pack on ZooWho? No, not Zoobooks, ZooWho! If you haven’t yet downloaded the free Zoobooks app for iPad and iPhone, don’t waste another minute!
ZooWho is the app that lets you take the jungle with you wherever you go. It’s a unique animal wildlife experience that offers interactive games, animal habitats to explore, fascinating facts, jungle sounds and more! And it’s free! Download ZooWho for iPhone or iPad today, or learn more at www.zoobooks.com/fun.
In light of the current Zoobooks Wild Horses issue, we’re very excited about El Paso Zoo’s new Przewalski’s Wild Horse exhibit! The Przewalski’s wild horse, commonly referred to as the Mongolian wild horse, was declared extinct by the World Conservation Union in 1970. In 1977, a breeding conservation program was established thanks to the dedication of zoos and other facilities where Przewalski’s horses survived. Now, more than 300 of these horses can be found in the wild in Mongolia, and the species’ status has been elevated from extinct to critically endangered.
The El Paso Zoo is dedicated to conservation education and to helping people connect with the last wild horses in the world, and take action to help them. In 2010, the Zoo joined a global effort to maintain a population of the Przewalski’s wild horse in North America. Now, visitors at the zoo can see the horse up close, and take part in maintaining its existence. Learn more about El Paso Zoo’s Przewalski’s wild horse conservation efforts.
