National Geographic Encyclopedia of Animals

Get ready to take a walk on the wild side! National Geographic Children's Books' brand-new reference work provides families and children with everything they need to know about the animal kingdom.

You'll meet more than 1,000 animals as you explore the pages of National Geographic Encyclopedia of Animals. This comprehensive volume introduces the entire animal kingdom: mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, fish, and all kinds of invertebrates, from sea squirts to worms and spiders.

Your tour of the animal kingdom will take you to every corner of the planet—from rugged mountain slopes to ocean depths and from steamy jungles to baking deserts and icy polar regions.

First, you'll find out just what an animal is, where animals live, how they behave, and why some are endangered. Then the parade of animals begins, each group in its own color-coded section. A lively introductory essay pointing out each group's distinguishing features is followed by page after page of stunning illustrations, engaging text, fun facts, maps, and more about the amazing range of animals within each group. The vibrant illustrations seem to crawl, chatter, screech, growl, and jump off every page. There's also a glossary to help with all the new terms you'll be learning, and a comprehensive index makes it easy to find just the animal you need for that report you're writing or just to satisfy your curiosity.

You'll find: More than 1,000 species vividly illustrated Fascinating facts at your fingertips Range maps for all major groups of animals Cross-sections and cutaways Photo essays that show animals in their habitats The latest conservation data Features on scientific discoveries and breakthroughs Scientific and common names for all animals Size listings for all illustrated animals Contents prepared under the direction of an international authority on animal sciences Comprehensive glossary and index

The animal kingdom is the greatest show on Earth, and National Geographic Encyclopedia of Animals puts it all at your fingertips.

Customer Reviews:

A little disappointed, but still a nice book

By ltnbrn - December 17, 2006

I bought this with the idea of reading it with our daughter in the future. It has some good information in it, and of course some nice pictures. But I was hoping for more comprehensive info, like what a particular animal eats, where it sleeps, its behaviors, etc. But the book is limited by its size. It'd have to be much bigger to have all that data. It has brief explanations and descriptions. It is a good book to introduce many of the numerous animals.

Great but not many photos

By J. Hoffman - June 18, 2008

I think this book is excellent content-wise. However, it has mostly drawings of animals, not actual photos. I was disappointed in this as the other reviews seemed to suggest it has lots and lots of pictures--these pictures are actually drawings (which are very well done) and they are indeed very plentiful, but I will be sending it back for a book with more actual photos of animals.

Same high quality as the 1st ed., but with a prettier front cover

By A. Arbogast - January 14, 2007

I bought this encyclopedia for my 7 year-old daughter who is obsessed with the great cats. She was thrilled! We had borrowed the previous edition (with the tree frog on the front) from the library, so I already knew that she loved the book. But now, with the tiger on the front, it's one of her favorite possessions. We're a month past Christmas, and she is still consulting this book regularly, drawing pictures of the various animals shown in full-color, and learning so many facts that she's becoming a walking encyclopedia herself. The organization and layout is very user-friendly. This is not an alphabetized A-Z book of animals. The mammals, insects, birds, etc. are all groups according to categories of related creatures. This is a very helpful feature. We give the book two thumbs up!!