Animal Atlas

People often mistake the smaller apes for monkeys.

Sometimes mistaken for ghosts, lemurs are unusual primates living only in Madagascar.

The truth behind the rumors of deadly monster-animals, from the gorilla to the shark and the Komodo dragon.

Loss of habitat, aggressive hunting, and mysterious disappearances can cause animal species to become endangered.

Great animals of Africa: giraffe, elephant, rhino, meerkat, warthog.

Giraffes are among the most-beloved animals on the planet.

An animal's legs and feet give clues about where it lives, what it eats and how it survives.

Mammals differ from other animals in many ways.

Wild pigs in Africa; the portly hippo; the barnyard piglet.

Animals of North and South America differ from Old World animals.

Terrestrial and arboreal monkeys, from the New World to the Old World.

The lowland gorilla and the chimpanzee.

Legends surround the orangutan and the bonobo.

How animals got their names; the meanings behind them.

Animals survive in the wild through unique adaptations to their environments.

Polar bears; American black bears; brown bears.

Animals who are black and white, and why they are.

The kangaroo, the koala, and other creatures native to Australia.

The histories of household and barnyard species.

Dogs, cats and horses are immediately recognizable.

Mammals, including dolphins and whales, survive in the ocean.

Historic vs. modern aquariums; animals that might be found in a public aquarium: sharks, dolphins, whales, giant arthropods and "monsters" of the deep.

Amphibians, aquatic turtles and swimming reptiles live submerged.

Tigers, giant pandas and great apes hail from Asia.

Anatomy of birds; flight; the flightlessness of penguins and ostriches.

A history of zoo-keeping; how zoos care for animals and increase animal populations.