"Rosita's mighty mouth won't replace human firefighters
- there are many brush fire abatement jobs that people
can do better and more efficiently. But winning the war
against wildfire requires many different strategies and
tools, and goats are a good one. Rosita and her herd are
happy to help. After a day of eating (and re-eating),
they go home, get some sleep, and wake up ready to
turn more dangerously dry land into a brushy
breakfast."
If you have a middle grader who is interested in animals, their amazing capabilities, and the ways in which they help scientists, I have a suggestion for you. This book profiles eight animals who use their sensory skills to do what research scientists cannot do on their own.
I started at the beginning, learning about Eba. She is a terrier mix who has been trained to sniff out killer whale poop. When an endangered group of killer whales is spotted nearby, Eba and her scientist hop on a boat and head out to see if they can find them. When Eba sniffs out a sticky blob of poop, she leads the boat closer to the spot. Dr. Deborah Giles, a marine biologist, scoops it up and brings it back to the lab in hopes that what they learn from it will help science understand why there are fewer orcas and if the ones spotted are healthy. Who knew?
There is much more to learn in this chapter about detector dogs around the world, and the animals they help to protect. Before the chapter closes the authors provide an activity for readers that encourages them to discover what it takes to follow a scent trail. The steps are clear, partners are encouraged, and the suggestion is made to reverse roles once the activity is completed the first time.
Each section follows the same design. There are seven more: fast ferrets, special delivery pigeons, gobbling goats, first-alert fish, dynamite dolphins, community-building bees, and satellite species. These introductions are informative, surprising, well-presented, and accompanied by clear, captioned photographs and interspersed with enjoyable cartoon illustrations. Readers are encouraged to think about the dangers that some of these animals face as they do their work, and as they consider its importance to scientific research.
A final activity encourages the reader to keep a creature log while observing what one animal does in a day ... or over many days. Does that help to answer questions the reader has? Does it encourage other bigger questions?
Back matter is extensive. There are lists for further exploration of each chapter's topic, source notes, a considerable bibliography, and an index.
This would be a wonderful book to assign to an interested group of middle years students, letting each focus on one chapter and then come together to offer insight into what they have learned about the animals and then their own senses. It is sure to spark conversation.
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