Nocturnal Animals (Greenwood Guides to the Animal World)

We share the earth with a wide variety of animal species, each of which brings something special to the diversity of the planet. By knowing more about how animals behave and live, we gain a greater understanding of how life evolved and the importance of biodiversity. This book is about the animals that rise when the sun sets and are active throughout the night. Nocturnal Animals examines how such animals live and explains their highly developed senses that enable them to survive in the dark, as well as their behavior and adaptations to avoid sunlight and predators during the day. The book provides a thorough guide, perfect for research papers in biology classes, for understanding the behavior and biodiversity of a fascinating and unusual group of animals. Nocturnal Animals provides an in-depth discussion of the behaviors of this fascinating group of animals. For example: Snakes have special senses - their flicking tongues bring scent particles to an organ in the mouth, and rattlesnakes have special heat-sensing pits that locate a small rodent by its body warmth. The highly developed sight of tree-living frogs allow them to jump from branch to branch in the dark Owls can locate a mouse in complete darkness because of their accute hearing Bats send out high frequency signals - some species actually through their noses - and hear the returning echoes in time to fly through a forest at full speed Beautifully illustrated, with numerous color images, Nocturnal Animalsprovides copious material for understanding these unusual animals. VOYA These three guides are very similar in format and writing style, with introductory chapters followed by the natural history of selected animals. A wealth of information is presented, but only the most dedicated older student is going to wade through the technical vocabulary. The color and black-and-white photos are minor components. Nocturnal Animals , which describes how specific animals from different groups survive during the day and live during the night, is the best of the three books. Flightless Birds presents an exceptional opportunity to elucidate the mechanism of natural selection and survival of the fittest, but unfortunately neither of these processes of evolution is mentioned and flightlessness is attributed to the deterioration of muscles through lack of use. It is not only misleading but also contributes to misconceptions about evolution. Hibernation contains a chapter titled Cold-Blooded Mammals. Although the author is trying to make the point that these mammals have lower and more erratic body temperatures than other mammals, it only creates confusion and misinterpretation for students, because they are still warm-blooded mammals. The bibliographies include Web sites, but most of the books and articles in the bibliographies would be unavailable to students and unsuitable for research because they are not up-to-date. Less than one-fourth were published as recently as 1990, whereas more than half pre-date 1980. These books cannot be recommended for a library serving youth. Talks about the animals that rise when the sun sets and are active throughout the night. This book examines how such animals live and explains their highly developed senses that enable them to survive in the dark, as well as their behaviour and adaptations to avoid sunlight and predators during the day. Describes the physical characteristics, behaviors, diets, and hunting tactics of many nocturnal species, presented in groups such as birds, primates, rodents, "scent tasters," "sound navigators," night hunters, and game