Atlas of Endangered Animals (Large Encyclopedias of Animals)

Beautiful, informative, and incredibly sad; this gorgeous book brings your attention to several amazing but critically endangered species from around the world. Many are well-known, but many others are more obscure, and some may surprise you to know their precipitous status. For example, you know that tigers and giant pandas are endangered, but what about the garden dormouse? And have you even heard of the kakapo, or the gharial? Yet each one of these is a precious denizen of our natural world, and each is threatened due to human activities. That is the tragedy. The text discusses the endangered animal and several related ones (most of which are also in peril). However, although the introduction seemed to indicate there may be hope, many of these animals are already beyond our help, already functionally extinct. Reading these stories is heartbreaking. But it’s essential we read them and learn them nonetheless. Destruction of habitat, environmental pollutions, over-hunting; we know the common culprits, but maybe increased awareness can spur us to change. This book’s breathtaking illustrations remind you how much poorer our world would be without these creatures. If we ignore the problem we will lose even more than we already have.