Ever wondered what animals Timon and Pumbaa from The Lion King aresupposed to be? Where does Wily E Coyote live when he is not chasing The Road Runner? How many kinds of apes and monkeys are there in the entire world?

To get the answer to all these questions, you can dive into the pictorial book 1000 Animals, which lists all kinds of animals, according to their habitat, to make you know all about them.

Published by Usborne, illustrated by Nikki Dyson and edited by Jessica Greenwell, this book is ideal for both the young and the old in the family; the young can search for their favourite animals in this book, while the old can help them understand a few things while learning a thing or two themselves.

So how would a beautifully illustrated reference book, filled with 1000 amazing animals be helpful to the youngsters, that too when it doesn’t describe any one animal? That’s simple, every animal on this planet, be it a lizard, a llama or the gorilla family, has its picture and name mentioned in the most relevant chapter, which features those animals who live in the same region or habitat.

Most of the animals who live in the rainforest have a separate page to themselves, and the same goes for monkeys and apes, African animals, Australian animals, Arctic animals, and Antarctic animals. They are followed by those animals who live in the mountains or those who either crawl on the ground or fly around. There is a special page for animals raised on a farm, whereas domesticated animals whom we refer to as pets, also get discussed on these pages.

All kinds of birds and animals living in trees, in the woods or in the desert, are mentioned in this book, as are those who reside underwater, underground or on the seashore. Then there are the colourless animals — black and white — or those who have either spots or stripes on their skin, followed by ones with horns and antlers or animals who are used to the darkness.

If you didn’t know that a ghost bat is different from a fruit bat; that the Raggiana bird of paradise has a colourful tail, or that the Siamang gibbon and Bornean orangutan might look the same, but are different, then you need this book. It explains to you that while a giant squirrel and giant armadillo might reside together in the rainforest, so do giraffes, Saharan cheetahs, white rhinoceroses and spotted hyenas in the African safari.

Furthermore, it tells all the readers out there that while in animated films, only one kind of penguin is shown, there are many different types of penguins, namely rockhopper, king, chinstrap, marconi, and emperor penguin, to name a few. Similarly, in the ape family, there are more than 40 different kinds of apes and some are even distinguished because of their colour like White-faced saki, golden-headed lion tamarin, purple-faced langur, bald uakari, etc.

Get your hands on this wonderful book and find out in which category your favourite animal falls. Is it a part of the Australian animals’ fraternity like the koala or the kangaroo, or falls on the list of Arctic animals like the grey wolf, or walrus, this book can clear all your misconceptions, in a fun way. Happy reading!

Published in Dawn, Young World, February 24th, 2024