Blog Posts by Subject: Animals

Who was Miss Anne in 1920s Harlem? How did George Washington define the American presidency? What is keeping a majority of Americans from eating well? Can the world’s most endangered big cat be saved? How can we improve brain performance at any age? What fascinating stories does Murray Hill have to tell? Find out at Mid-Manhattan this month!

This wombat likes eating, sleeping, and getting Christmas stockings. He particularly likes eating carrots. When he finds Christmas reindeer eating his carrots, the wombat gets grumpy. Creatures stealing his carrots is not acceptable behavior.

Luckily, however, he finds a way to get the reindeer to help him find more carrots! He rides on the runners of the reindeer's sleigh in search of carrots across the globe, from toucans in Central American rainforests to igloos in Canada.

It is Christmas at the library for the kitty! Dewey has come a long way since last winter when he was rescued by Spencer Library director Vicki from the book-return drop. This year he is ready and enthusiastic for Christmas at the library. He loves everything about the season: gift bags, red yarn galore, and a Christmas tree that 

Is Detroit City really the place to be? What happens in a typical day at a busy NYC hospital? How does a traveler lose himself all over the globe? Is it possible for the government to achieve full employment in the U.S.? How can government in the 21st century 

Greetings, and welcome to Banned Books Week! For each day of Banned Books Week, this blog will be highlighting a famous banned or challenged book. The campaign to highlght milestones in the history of banned and challenged books and promote intellectual freedom was spearheaded by library activist Judith Krug. She once said "You should have access to ideas and information regardless of your age. If anyone is going to limit or guide a young person, it should be the parent or guardian—and 

"The only reason for being a bee that I know of is to make honey ...  And the only reason for making honey, is so as I can eat it." —Winnie the Pooh

I have found myself enthralled in the world of honeybees and their plight. I don't know how much people know about colony collapse disorder, but it's a real thing!

I love tea and I love honey... but there is a major problem in our world right now that I think either people are ignoring or just simply have no 

Stunning. That one word does justice to Nic Bishop's photographic talents.

Lizards existed 150 million years ago, along with dinosaurs. Some lizards lack legs; therefore they can be confused with snakes, but snakes do not have ear holes. The biggest lizard, the Komodo dragon, which is also the largest venomous animal in the world, can grow to be up to ten feet long. One of its favorite snacks is water buffalo.

Unfortunately, baby lizards do not get much of a childhood; they are on their own shortly after birth. Some lizards inhabit deserts, while 

The one at the bottom wins!Who says worms aren't fast? All of us at the Webster Library beg to differ. We recently held very competitive, highly excitable, worm race!

First, it's not very easy to find worms in this concrete jungle. Luckily I realized that pet stores carry them. I chose to use earthworms over red wigglers because then we could simply put them outside, instead of trying to find a composting site at the end.

We 

I love the rhyming poetry in this book:

Where the alligators slither and slide on a warm summer night when the moon was bright an alligator took a bride.

The book is full of alligator things. The pair of alligators was married in the marshy glades, and the bride had a cobweb veil and a scaly green paw. The couple invited crocodiles, 

Crocodiles existed in the time of dinosaurs. In some countries in Central America, crocs are an endangered species. This is the story of one couple's search for knowledge about the ancient creatures in the Everglades of Florida. They were able to see, photograph and videotape 20 crocs, including a one-foot long baby crocodile (adults are between eight and eleven feet long). It is difficult to see crocs even when they are present, since crocs like to camouflage into their environments.

Crocs are not the only animals that inhabit the Everglades. Rattlesnakes, manatees, 

Moisture helps frogs sing, not just the expected ribbit, but also different guttural sounds, such as thrum-rum. Think frogs are boring linguistically? Think again. Frogs and toads say buzz, chirp, bonk, click-clack, tink, plunk, brack, mwaa, and they whistle.

The strawberry poison dart frog in Costa Rica's rain forest sings a tiny song. Oklahoma's Great Plains narrow-mouthed toad makes a sound like a fly! The Surinam toad from 

A baby chick is incubated by a flamingo couple for a month. When it hatches, its mother feeds it milk, mouth-to-mouth. Later, the bird baby rushes to its mother when a storm suddenly darkens the sky and rain pours down.

However, the next morning, a calm, bright world emerges. The flamingo grows and develops. Eventually, the teenage flamingo is 

Dangers of the 'foodopoly'... secrets of the original West Village... how Manhattan became capital of the world... a survey of time in love, war, crime, art, money and media... the spectrum of

Horse reproduction! I never thought that I would learn so much about this subject by reading a book about wild horse scientists, but I guess that it makes sense. After all, managing the numbers of wild horses on islands, especially publicly protected land in which predators are few and far between, is a challenge.

And what to do with the excess 

One day, librarian Molly decided to drive her mobile library van into the zoo, and all of the animals were flummoxed! She read from Dr. Seuss and the zoo animals were drawn toward her. They were fascinated by reading, and went wild over the many different kinds of books that the library van displayed. The animals read together or alone or while eating lunch, and some, unfortunately, had overdue books.

Tasmanian devils, pythons, penguins and porcupines decided to write their own stories after reading so many written by other 

15-year-old exercise rider Jack Walsh hopes and dreams that someone will promote him to "bug boy," a.k.a. apprentice jockey. However, in no way, shape or form did he aspire to take advantage of the misfortune of Showboat, the leading jockey at his barn. 116 pounds is much too heavy for a jockey; ten pounds to lose in two days. Endless frantic running, eating and drinking little of anything, wrapping oneself in a heavy blanket in the middle of summer, and vomiting up anything that will come up. One hopes that his fate does not mirror Showboat's.

The 

Some animals in the world are treated badly, and vegans do not want to be a part of that. They do not use animals for food, clothing or fun. This is good for the animals, our health, and the environment.

Vegans are vegetarians. Some vegetarians eat cheese, eggs, honey, and drink milk. Vegans eschew all animal products.

However, vegans like 

Breathtaking. That is the first word that comes to mind when flipping through the spectacular visual art in this book. The dark cover photo of a relaxed, beautiful flaxen chestnut horse sets the tone for this set of pictorial works.

Many of Stromberg's photos have dark colors and depict wild horses running free across the countryside. They are vivid depictions of