Animal Misfits

Gr 5 Up—This program describes how and why certain animals have evolved in such unconventional ways, including pandas, nonmeat-eating carnivores, flightless parrots, fish that walk on their fins, and even the eerie-looking stalk-eyed fly. The sloth maintains its leisurely lifestyle because the plants it eats take a long time to digest and don't provide much energy. To protect itself from swift predators, the sloth blends in with the environment, taking on a green tinge from the algae growing in its coarse fur. The visuals of the animals and exotic habitats (Ethiopia and New Zealand) are stunning. The time-lapse photography employed to examine how the arctic wooly bear caterpillar freezes through several winters only to thaw again in spring is breathtaking. Brian Unger provides smooth narration with enthusiastic but unobtrusive emphasis. The program is bookended with the message that there is nothing wrong with being different and variety is often a testament to resilience.—C.A. Fehmel, St. Louis County Library, MO