When Elephants Listen with Their Feet: Discover Extraordinary Animal Senses

Gr 3-7–Most creatures in the natural world use at least one of their senses to attract a mate, catch or avoid prey, or build a home. This book highlights the extraordinary ways some creatures’ unique senses are highly developed. The text is organized by the five senses. There is a section that describes animals that use Earth’s electromagnetism and one section on those that use vibrations. For example, the termite will bang its head against the wall using a specific, rapid rhythm to warn the others if the colony is being attacked. The last segment details the “superpowers” of a few animals, such as the sailfin lizard’s ability to walk on water as a way to escape danger. The brief descriptions are clear and contain an appropriate amount of scientific terminology. Each section begins with a short introduction to the sense, usually comparing it to humans’ use of it. Text boxes feature a realistic image and are attractively laid out on the page to provide a clean, uncluttered format. An index of animals offers additional information about each creature and the corresponding page number.