The Lives of Wild Animals Book #1: A Set of Seven 15-Minute Books

By Caitlind L. Alexander

There are many amazing animals in the world. Some are funny and some are strange. This book will tell you about seven interesting, but amazing animals. Each book covers six subjects: What is it, where does it live, what does it eat, who are its enemies, how are babies born and raised, and some fun facts about the animal.
This is a compilation of seven of our popular 15-Minute Books. It contains the full text and pictures from the following individual books:

Giant Pandas: Cuddly Bamboo Lovers
Gorillas: Men of the African Forest
Zebras: Striped Horses of Africa
Bats: Fliers of the Night
Armadillos: Animals That Wear Armor
Manatees: Mermaids of the Sea
Horses: Tame and Wild

Ages 7 to 10
Reading level: 3.8
All measurements in American and metric.

LearningIsland.com believes in the value of children practicing reading for 15 minutes every day. Our 15-Minute Books give children lots of fun, exciting choices to read, from classic stories, to mysteries, to books of knowledge. Many books are appropriate for hi-lo readers. Open the world of reading to a child by having them read for 15 minutes a day.

• Language: English
• Publisher: LearningIsland.com
• Release date: Dec 24, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311632807

Caitlind L. Alexander

Caitlind Alexander is the author of over 60 books for children, including the Jamie and Kendall Broderick Mystery series, the 14 Fun Facts and 101 Fun Facts series, the Wonderful World of Animals Series, and the Miss Jones series.She lives in California where she loves to visit historic places and learn about new things. She also loves to travel and has been all over the world.

Book preview

CUDDLY BAMBOO LOVERS

What is a Giant Panda?

Giant pandas are animals that live in China.

For many years, people couldn't decide if a panda was part of the bear family or part of the raccoon family. Now they know that they are really bears.

They look like a huge, cuddly bear. They have four legs and a short, stubby tail. They also have a face that looks like a bear face.

(Chi King)

They are also covered in thick fur like a bear. This fur is mostly white. However, there are black patches of fur around the panda's eyes. Their arms, legs and ears are also black. There is also a big black patch of black fur around the panda's body.

Black and white is not the only color set that panda bears come in. Some panda bears are dark brown and tan. The dark brown is in the same places on their bodies that the black fur is on a black and white panda. The tan is in the same places that the white hair is.

Their fur is very thick. That keeps them warm in the cold mountains where they live.

(Chi King)

The Chinese people often call the panda 'cat bear'. It was named this because of its eyes. Panda eyes look like cat eyes. The pupil or black spot in their eye isn't round like most animals. Instead, it is an up and down slit like a cat's eye.

Panda bears do not get as big as many other bears. They grow to be about four to six feet (1.2 to 1.8 metres) long. That includes their tail. They are only about 26 to 28 inches (65 to 70 cm) tall at the shoulder.

The male will weigh about 350 pounds (165 kg). That is about as much as two full-grown men weigh.

Females are smaller than males. Often they are only a little bit smaller, but they can be only half as big as a male panda.

(Chi King)

A giant panda's front paws are different from the paws of most other bears. They have five fingers. They also have a bone that sticks out from the back of their paw. This bone is covered in fur.

They use this bone like we use our thumb. They will wrap it around a stalk of bamboo so they can bring the stalk up to their mouth.

Like most bears, pandas have a short, stubby tail. Their tail can grow to be four to six inches long. That means it is longer than the tails of most other bears in the world. Only the sloth bear has a longer tail than the giant panda.

(Chris Palmer)

Like many other bears, pandas can climb trees. Sometimes they will climb a tree so they can sleep in the branches. They also like to sleep in small caves or hollows in a rock.

Pandas do not have a den that they stay in all the time. They will sleep wherever they can find a spot at the end of the day.

Pandas also do not hibernate in the winter. Instead, they will move to warmer places when the weather gets too cold for them.

One reason they do not hibernate is because they eat bamboo. Bamboo does not have much fat in it. Because of this, a panda needs to keep eating, even in the winter. They cannot build up enough fat in their body to go for four or five months without eating.

(Ken Liu)

Where Do Giant Pandas Live?

Pandas live in China. They used to live in many parts of China. Now they only live in a few mountains in China. People