Vanishing Treasures

Katherine Rundell has done the serious research and written definitive book on extraordinary endangered creatures, Vanishing Treasures.  This is a book about awe-inspiring animals that are in danger of extinction.

Each animal gets a short chapter about its history, its way of life and why it is in danger of becoming extinct.  There are some animals that are very unusual like the Lemur, the Wombat, and the Narwhal.  These are animals that live in small areas of the world and their lives are endangered because of eithher the environment changing or being killed faster than they are having babies.

There are also some surprising animals in the endangered list.  These are animals that are very common in our lives and this reader never realized that these animals were not prolific.  Crows, Raccoons, and Bears.  These animals have been hunted, captured and their food sources and living areas are being changed and disappearing as humans are building homes and taking away the forests and places the animals live.

This book is written in a very readable interesting style.  Some of the information about the animals is quite interesting and surprising.   Giraffes have purple tongues, to help protect it from the sun.  The seahorse mates for life and the male carries and births the babies.  Thee Narwhal has one long horn that could be where the design and idea of Unicorn's horn comes from.  

She also adds one last animal at the end of the book that Rundell says could be in in danger of extinction if things do not change, the human.  Rundell points out that though we think the Earth is at our disposal, it is not true and if we do not respect nature, it could destroy us. It can still be saved and that is our challenge.