Animal Atlas

An exploration into the world of the primates: from apes, to monkeys, to prosimians. How they differ, how to tell them apart, what they have in common.

A closer look at monkeys: the old world and the new world; the biggest and the smallest; the baboons, the guenons, the tamarins.

A fascinating exploration into the world of the four great apes: the gorilla, the orangutan, the chimpanzee, and the bonobo.

All that’s fascinating about birds: from feathers, to flight, to beaks and bills. The biggest, the flightless, the raptors, the nut-crackers. The parrots, the owls, and the ostrich.

An exploration into the world of animals that are not only nocturnal and diurnal, but crepuscular. We look at why animals are awake at one time instead of another, and what special sensory adaptations they have for nocturnal living.

We delve into the secrets of snakes and lizards, alligators and crocodiles, and turtles and tortoises.

A look at the animals living today who were around at the time of the dinosaurs, and even before. We look at how some animals have changed a great deal while others have hardly changed at all, and why these animals survived when the dinosaurs didn’t.

A wild ride into animal nomenclature.

A closer look at bones, from animals with a backbone (vertebrates), to those with skeletons made of cartilage (sharks), to those animals who don’t need bones at all (invertebrates). We ask what constitutes an exoskeleton, a hydrostatic skeleton, and a turtle’s carapace.

An exploration into the world of wild animals that live in our human neighborhoods. What makes a habitat livable? We look at how the temperature, plant life, and climate determine where an animal lives.

A panoramic look at animals that live in trees. We ask how they get up there in the first place (climb, fly, leap), what adaptations they have to live as tree-dwellers (claws to prehensile tails), and which animals we can expect to find in trees (birds, monkeys), including those we don’t (kangaroos).

A wild ride through animal classification! What determines an animal’s species? Why do the same kinds of animals sometimes look different from each other? What makes a subspecies? All in all, who is related to who, and why.

An exploration into the watery life of amphibians, including colorful frogs, toads, newts, salamanders. An examination of what amphibians have in common with other cold-blooded creatures such as fish and reptiles, and what sets them apart. Finally, a trip from an amphibian’s larval stage through its adult stage, and a look at the important role water plays in the amphibian lifecycle.

A look at what’s great and fascinating about the nearly 5,000 species of lizards alive today, from chameleons to iguanas to basilisks. First, an examination of what makes a lizard a reptile, and what these incredible creatures have in common with other reptiles, especially snakes. Next, a look at what is common to all lizards, such as being cold-blooded and scaly-skinned. Finally, a rundown of some amazing facts about specific lizards, such as the ability to lose a tail and grow a new one, and to have 180 degrees of vision.